Two John Stories

My wonderful husband, John is the topic of this post. He is always up to something -- he is the ultimate planner, and always finds projects to do. He likes to make things better, and have goals. He is always changing, updating, and improving things around our house, barn and yard, which brings me to:

Story #1 -- Improving the Parking Space for the Horse Trailer at the Expense of the Round Pen

Our horse trailer is parked inside our pasture area, close to the fence. There are woods on the outside of the fence, and the branches had started hanging low over the trailer. Realizing this is not a good situation, John decided to do something about it. He got the ladder and his trusty chainsaw and got to work on those trouble-making branches.

I was in the barn grooming The Girls and doing some cleaning.

Then I heard a crash......

Terrified that he may have fallen off the ladder, or gotten knocked down by a branch I ran outside.

He was OK, but one of the round pen panels was a bit of a casualty!

But he got the job done. Here is the trailer, safe and sound and untouched by branches.


He is also loyal and determined, as evidenced by his ability to ride Zora. She is one of those horses who would have been sold from owner to owner had she not been initially purchased by John. They have adapted to each other, and she has made him one hell of a good rider. But ever so often something happens, which brings me to:

Story #2 -- John,  Zora, and the Potato Creek Fence Post

Last month we took The Girls to Potato Creek for a weekend of camping and riding. We like it there for its nice campground, clean shower facilities, and beautiful trails. While out on the trail we get to a place where John and Zora decide to kick it into a higher gear and do some moving. As usual they are way out ahead of Divna and me when I hear him call out. When we caught up to them, he told me he had an unexpected encounter with a fence post. Evidently in taking a turn, Zora got a bit too close to the trail edge, and there is some overgrown brush a fencepost was hidden. John took it on the knee. After just a short time it looked like this....

The next day it looked like this.....

It kept spreading and ended up covering most of his leg.

It was the biggest bruise I had ever seen. These pictures don't even do it justice.

Amazingly the bruise went away pretty quickly, though I think he will have the bump with him for a while.


Zora doesn't know how lucky she is to have John for an owner.

Mystery Solved

The mystery has been solved! We now know who Marko inspired to make a donation to an animal shelter. Turns out it was our cyber-world friend, Debb, who lives near my brother in the beautiful Northwoods of Wisconsin. I say cyber-world friend because we have not actually met in person yet. My brother introduced us by e-mail because we both have horses. She and a friend of hers generously offered to board our horses if we want to bring them up for some riding. We had plans to do so  last summer, but John got a temporary job, so we were unable to make the trip. "The Girls" are getting a Coggins test today, so hopefully we will be able to make that trip sooner than later.

The shelter she chose to donate to is located near her sister's home near the IN/KY border. Her sister lost her dog around the same time we lost Marko -- that inspired Debb to donate to the shelter. She said that shelter is struggling and can use the help.

Debb was so sweet to make the donation in Marko's name. It makes me feel good that some animals will benefit from his memory. It is so much appreciated.....