Well on August 8th, 2011 Sunny had a litter of four kittens. She had two in my computer chair, not to my appreciation but moved into a dresser drawer that I placed just below the chair, where my feet normally go. And all was well for four days.

A neighbour had a cat who had four kittens two weeks ago. Two days ago the mother cat went missing. We don’t know what happened to her but the kittens were left alone for almost two days and were hungry and crying loudly.

I didn’t want to but after looking high and low for the mother cat, I brought the kittens home not thinking about putting them on Sunny because she had a full plate with her own brood. Emergence kitten food, gloop was made by my son (recipe is below) and small syringes were sterilized. Then the difficult task of feeding began. And it is difficult to feed kittens.

Their owner and his little 7-year old daughter rushed 100km round trip to the veterinarian to buy bottles and then to the pet shop to buy kitten supplement powder. But by the time they returned Sunny had one of the extra kittens with her brood, the one that was crying the loudest. The kitten that is ginger and white in the picture.

Within two hours she had claimed all 8 kittens and had them in the dresser drawer at my feet.

Now there isn’t enough room for all the kittens and the two week old kittens are far more aggressive at getting the nipples, so after 5 or 10 minutes I remove them to their own box but they cry and Sunny goes after them and one by one returns them to her dresser drawer, after her own brood is satisfied. She feeds and cleans them and they all go to sleep peacefully for an hour or so. Then the whole mess starts over again.

in case you missed it !!!                         When people ask what you learned today …… Manure… An interesting fact

Manure :  In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship and it was also before the invention of commercial fertilizers, so large shipments of manure were quite common.

These slippers are not the most comfortable pair of footwear I’ve ever had on my feet but they might just be the most durable. I find them expectedly a little stiff but no more than a new pair of slippers. They do surprisingly enough keep any drafts off my feet and keep my feet warm while roaming around outside in sub zero temperatures. That is better than my rubber boot do, I must say. But in all fairness, I don’t wander through muck and manure as I do with boots.

I wouldn’t wear them without socks but I wouldn’t think twice about running to the corner store with them on,either. All-in-all, I’d say they are a successful knitting project, one I intend to duplicate for my son.

This is the pattern I started off with but as you can see I modified it so completely that it doesn’t look like the same slipper. I followed the heel section pretty close to the original but when I reached the toe section, I changed to knit 1, purl 1, and reduced for the toe around 1 inch shorter than I needed. I reduced at the sole edges 3 times, every second row. Then I cut the string and pulled it through the remainder stitches and pulled it tight. I thought it would be stretchier around the toes this way.

These slippers are part of the ever growing list of baling twine products within my arsenal…. Added to the product of the halter and lead rope, the dog leash with a training martingale, the bitless bridle, the beaded bridle and the lead rope.

How would you like to go for a romantic ride on a warm summers evening, under a full moon on a beach of soft white sand, with the sound of the surf to one side and sea birds above you? Now you can ride Gimme A Dream, Willow Breeze, Woodmere Frilifili (Frilly), Bonanza and occasionally even the elderly Shaman on the most wonderful of all vacations.

The Magdalen Islands are known to have more than 300 running kilometers of cream to white sandy beaches. Now you can ride some of the world’s most beautiful beaches and back woods trails, canter through shallow water and follow trails that were made for riding on, while taking in breath-taking panoramic scenery.  Old Harry beach is world famous for its 30 some odd miles of endless sand, sand hills and surf and the East Point Wildlife Reserve trails are on its borders. This is Gimme A Dream’s Vacation World.

Explore stunted forests, salt-water marshes, cranberry, crowberry and blueberry moors. Get a look at the islands wildlife up close. Study orchids that are unique to the islands and learn of herbs that the original settlers used to eat and heal themselves with.

Watch the maritime birds in their natural setting and a multitude of the other 250 or more bird species that frequent the islands.  Learn of the early settlers and the shipwreck society they became.  Bask in the beautiful, sunsets known to man. Swim in warm, quiet lagoon waters, salt water lakes or surf waves on the open beach.

You can camp so close to the beach that the sound of the surf lulls you to sleep and then rise to the most wonderful sunrise over the Gulf waters. Experience ghost stories from shipwrecks around a warm campfire and perhaps, if you are lucky, you’ll meet Isabelle, a beautiful, young mother from the 1847 shipwreck Miracle, who has been searching for the children she lost, the past 163 years.  Take long leisurely walks over varied flatlands. Pick berries during their season and go fishing mackerel with a rod and reel off the wharves and capes. Search for shells, pebbles and small sea creatures that washed ashore.

There are a million and one things to do either on horseback, foot, kayak or canoe on the Magdalen Islands.

So, if you feel like stepping out of the rat race and dream of cantering along a deserted sandy beach with the taste of sea-spray rousing your senses, or wonder what it would be like to slow it all down, to get in touch with yourself again, to allow your instincts to guide you and to recall how to laugh, and sing, and celebrate life remember that, even in today’s fast moving world, there is still a place where all this is possible…, Iles-de-la-Madeleine and her horses await you….

To learn more about this vacation paradise see Gimme A Dream’s Vacation blog at http://www.gimmeadream.com

A couple of months ago the administration emailed me, reminding me that I was a member and that they were sending updates now, would I like to subscribe to the “lens of the day”.  Well sure! And I began to receive what they considered the best of Squidoo.

It didn’t take long for me to see a pattern to Squidoo and see possibilities and potential in the program and I knew I wanted to create a lens. So I called up my old, unpublished lens about the horses that I had here. Still I drew a blank! How to put pictures in? How do I track it? How do I use it in conjunction with Twitter? And Heaven forbid…, how does it involve blogging?

I did a very long learning curve on this one. My Squidoo Lens is called “Horse Sanctuaries” and it is at http://www.squidoo.com/gimmeadream

It isn’t quite the way I imagined it but it will be updated regularly until I find a way to add modules, banking systems, my baling twine tack for sale and other tings that will be related to horse sanctuaries that I want. It’s a ‘work in progress’, as they say.

Gimme A Dream’s Horse Sanctuary is a description of each of the horses who have become a part of his life here on the Magdalen Islands. It is the first in a series of Squidoo lens, describing various incidences involving horses here and how unexpected problems are overcome.

The second lens in the series will be the seizures of Sam’s (Sammy) Pride, giving a detailed description of her life and possible actions I might have taken differently had I know for the start, I had a very sick horse on my hands.

There will be other lens too. Lens about experiences people have with their horses while living in isolated conditions here on the island.

I don’t mean there to be any monetary gain from the lenses that I create about the horses really. This experiment is mostly about learning to use various methods to extract all the possible potential from them. Then when I have learned enough, I hope to have the knowledge and courage to put it all together into a “make a living” campaign which will help to feed the horses. Not too terrible lofty, I don’t think.

The Danish Warmblood mare had been retired last August, after Las Vegas World Cup Competition, in 2009, when she slipped while off loading her trailer.  She suffered long term tendon injuries.

Blue Hors Matine was expected to continue as a broodmare. The horse forums around the world are saddened by this unexpected turn of events. People think she was in foal and due to give birth soon. But I read on one site that she was to be inseminated this coming spring by another of the Blue Hors horses. To me, it just didn’t make sense that they not attempt to save the foal. It would have been difficult but surely conceivable.  I believe her impending motherhood was nothing more than a rumor. An error on the part of one of the news wires.

Foto: Ridehesten.com

She was in her home field with her buddy Blue Hors Cavan, when a passerby noticed that she had been injured and reported it to the stable staff, it was said.  The veterinarian put her down because she had broken her off foreleg at the knee joint, shortly after.

What a sad day for the world of the show horse! Accidents happen, but strangely enough I feel somewhat disconnected and at a loss because of the death of Matine. I will never have the chance to meet her and watch as she dances her way into more hearts. I feel almost like I’ve lost one of my own.  What a sad day it is, indeed!

The mare sky-rocketed to fame after winning the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, winning the Grand Prix Freestyle with Andreas Helgstrand. The following video is the winning ride.

Blue Hors Matine, by Blue Hors Silver Moon also took the Bronze at the games for the Grand Prix Special.

This video has seen around 10 million views to date, since it was put up on YouTube. I imagine it will be seen by another 10 million now that she is dead.

We live in Canada and I think, this time of the year, everyone becomes concerned about their horses and their neighbours horse too.  Here on the islands, there are very few horses left amongst the people. On this island, Coffin Island, there are presently ten horses, five of which are mine. Last year there were three, all of which were mine and so on for many years. Before I got Copper, there hadn’t been any horses here since I was young.

What I am saying is that people in general around here don’t know about the needs of horses and some are very agitated that I don’t have a barn. I have shelter in the form of a large greenhouse structure covered in undamaged heavy duty plastic and a smaller temporary car garage, as well as many acres of spruce, pine and fir forests, that have thick, interwoven tops and no branches on bottom. These forests groves are surrounded by very thick spruce and fir underbrush and young spruce trees trying to find light to grow. They are so thick that our cat as difficulty picking her way through them.

I also have two sets of winter blankets for each of the five horses, just in case they are needed. One blanket is thick synthetic filled multi-layer, with a fleece liner and the other is an impermeable or a water-proof garment. Granted I try to not use the blankets often because I want the horses coats to come to their full potential for warmth, but I don’t take any chances on any of the horses getting cold either.

Another thing is that I and my son take turns, feeding all the horses, sometimes every hour around the clock, when the temperature really drops or it becomes a wet, windy day with temperatures hovering around the freezing mark. These are the worst days for my horses. Often they are standing belly deep in hay while other times the horses use the greenhouse, particularly if I put the food inside. But because the warmth in the greenhouse, winter coats tend to get stunted and extremely dirty and dusty, so although I used the green house frequently three winters ago, I found that last year the horses were happier outside and I had less conflicts amongst them. The flapping, snapping plastic, in the highest gale wind, doesn’t bother them in the slightest, which surprised me greatly. I thought it would spook them badly.

Yes, I’m up out of bed and out with the horses, throughout the night. I’ve been known to fall asleep while laying on a soft, warm back at 30 degrees below zero Celsius, only to have a rude awakening, face down in a snow bank, when Copper decided to shift his weight to the other foot. I don’t do that anymore.

Instead, I keep fresh hay with them constantly and bring water, warmed from the kettle on the stove in two and a half gallon buckets to each and everyone of them separately, a half a dozen times a day, throughout the winter. I try to get at least ten gallons of water into each horse per day. My original three, Gimme A Dream, Frilly and Willow drink up to 15 gallons a day each but the newest older guys, Bonanza and Shaman drink only a couple of gallons per day.

I have salt blocks and more recently large 24 kg mineral blocks set out to encourage the intake of water. They prefer the mineral blocks but I keep the salt blocks out, just in case they want a change.

Gimme A Dream, Willow, Frilly and Bonanza all have a high body condition score, about a 7, but 28-year-old Shaman has less. He is not a thin horse, in fact he is the best conditioned horse I have here. The others are fat, FAT, fat and with bigggggg hay bellies. They are so out of condition now (I am so ashamed of myself) but as the days grow longer and the temperatures start to rise, I shall start to cut their meals from them slowly until I’m feeding them tree times a day and give them less hay per feeding until they get about forty lbs each per day except for Gimme. He will continue to get more because of his great height and normal weight. And I shall be riding them again. They are retired from riding for the winter because I keep them barefoot all year round.

Bonanza

Twenty-four year old Bonanza is around 15 hh, extremely sound and full of energy.  He is extremely gentle and loves his humans but only after he gets to know them. He is nervous of new activities or lots of people in his presence. If I were to make a stab in the dark about his breeding, I would say that he was Halflinger because of the thick, heavy-weighted cannon bones and indeed his entire leg structure.

Bonanza is a wonderful horses but for some reason, I want to call him ‘George’ and I’ve bit my tongue more then once trying to stop that thought. He reminds me of a George.

Shaman

Twenty-six year old Shaman was slated to be put to sleep this year. Apparently he was in bad shape and had probles walking. He was in serious pain.

Shaman and Bonanza were the last of a riding center’s 30 some odd trail horses, which closed its doors a few years back. The owner kept four of his favorite horses but finally sold two very early in 2009.  Bonanza and Shaman were left to fend for themselves on a large acreage of hilly land.

When I put out the word that I wanted a young female 14.2hh Canadian, their owner asked if I would consider Bonanza because he was putting Shaman to sleep and didn’t want his favorite horse alone. He had seen me with my three, Gimme A Dream, Willow Breeze and Woodmere Frilifili and apparently liked what he saw.  He went into the field with the and found a healthy curiosity about his presence.   He said they were contented horses and he was/is right.

I asked for a week to decide about Bonanza because he wasn’t what I was looking for.  But when what I wanted didn’t turn up, I phoned him and said I would take Bonanza for the winter.  Before he brought Bonanza to me, he called and asked if I would board both Bonanza and Shaman for him for the winter.  Whoa now! This I’d have to check out.

When I went to see his horses for the first time, Bonanza wouldn’t even let us near him. He’d canter with his head held high and his tail held even higher. Lord he was stunning! But he wasn’t the horse I went to see. It was Shaman who was having the problems and I wanted to make certain I could handle anything that might arise. It looked to me that Shaman had broken or severely damaged his stifle or as they say, “Shaman was stifled”.

Since I’ve already worked with repairing the stifle in other horses and Shaman was capable of walking, with a limp, I decided to take the two for the winter. I have the instructions to have the veterinarian put him down, if he develops problems I can’t handle. Barring accidents, I don’t think it will happen. You see, I have the inflammation under control and he walks, trots and canters as well as the rest of the horses now.

The Story of Their Arrival

Bonanza and Shaman arrived during the night of the worst snow and ice storm of the year. Bonanza was soaked with nervous sweat and had to be heavily blanketed. They both refused food and water for a couple of days but they eventually gave in, accepting potatoes at first.  I love giving my horses potatoes and do so frequently, knowing that potatoes will help with any arthritic inflammation that might be present.

Within a week, Shaman was showing no signs of a limp what so ever and hasn’t regressed over the passed three months. I’m so pleased with the old horse, even though I kept calling him ‘Shamoo’. Again, I bit my tongue a hundred times to stop my thoughts and call him by his right name.  Shamoo is a killer whale in Sea World in Orlando, Florida.