My Kingdom for a ..... Watch?

Ok, this one just made me laugh a lil. 

Ad Text: 

movado stainless steel watch! This was a gift and i wore it only a few times! Im not a watch wearer!!! this is a real movado not a fake! this retails for 1200!! i will trade for horse preferably a qh mare. also goats, sheep, and pigs. no pot belly please! email or text 

So.... Would you trade your horse for this watch? Gotta admit this one is ambitious!

She Really Should Know Better

 Ad Text: 

Solid Palomino Paint Mare - $3500 (North of Phoenix)

Treasure is a beautiful solid paint horse. Ages 12 and up have been riding her. She is great in arena. She loves to lend on trails or she can be in the back. She is used to Flagstaff area and Desert landscape. Hauls with no problem. No buck or rear. Great all around horse.

Breed: Paint Gender: Mare Birth Date: Jan 1, 2005

And the Picture...

Ok. The mare totally looks like she's that just incredible type that completely loves kids and would never ever hurt a fly on one. She's got that caring, concerned look on her face and is paying attention to what is admittedly a cutie pie tot in diapers and mini moccasins. Looks like tot is trying to pet the horsie. I'm sure Mom felt that this was a totally safe situation and would snatch that kid up in .397 seconds if anything were to actually happen. 

Here's why it bothers me. Aside from the obvious of course. I followed the link to the equinenow.com site. Pretty much the same thing.... with one exception. A link to her krazyhorseranch.com website. 

So I clicked. Then realized where I knew the name from. Its the ranch that provides the horses to the one Girl Scout Camp Ranch that has the horse riding program here in AZ. Camp Maripai has been around forever - heck that is the only camp *I* would attend when *I* was a Girl Scout. (I never got my way of course, but that is another story.) 

What bothers me is that this particular ranch owns the horses that our girl scouts ride. On the surface that might be a good thing.... they are obviously very kid broke horses (and they are - they are horses worth their weight in gold) and believe me, I'd look at the mare knowing she has that background. 

My own daughter will end up at this same camp next year, riding the horses that are owned by this ranch. Granted, the wranglers at the camp are hired and employed by the Girl Scout Council and that program really doesn't have a lot to do with this picture. 

Yet - why is a woman who is representing that ranch - a ranch that obviously would NOT be continually sending horses to a horse riding program that is very strong on safety and basic horsemanship skills - standing out in the middle of an open field with a baby in diapers? 

I understand its a cute picture and in this case, actually kinda does demonstrate that the horse might be kid friendly - but there are so many better ways to do that. Their own website shows plenty of pictures that show they understand safety around horses. 

I guess I don't understand why they chose this particular picture to try to sell the mare. I'm sure they had their reasons but it really isn't representing their hard earned reputation for safety.

The Last 2 Years

Its been a while! 2 Freaking Years! I could rant and rave about what's happened in the last two years but I'll summarize it this way...It's been a long 2 years. 

November 2010 was the last post on the blog until the previous one. Life kinda started falling apart round about then, basically I was stuck in a holding pattern of my own design and had to figure out how to break out on my own. My relationship was falling apart and I was doing the typical 'female sacrifices everything to keep it going' crap.

Fast forward to the first weekend in August 2011. I walked out of my relationship and that poisonous house and didn't look back. Moved into my Grandmothers house and started the healing process with a new job that I was really excited about. November 12th I was involved in an auto accident that I really should not have walked away from. Totaled out my car and since my job was dependent on my car - there went that job. Then, one month after that my grandmother went into full renal failure and was in and out of the hospital from December to February. We almost lost her a couple times, but she is a fighter and refused to give in and she is doing 1000x better at the spry age of 92. 

Throw in some 6 months of unemployment and no car...life pretty much continued to suck! The first third of 2012 was spent in seeking employment and finally in April I found something temporary but full time that just this past week went permanent (YAY! :)). Oh, and the universe decided to gift me with someone that is everything that my ex was not. His name is David and I think the world of him. He's as non-horsey as you can get but at least he's not anti-horse lol. 

On top of all of that.... I decided to go back to college this fall! The degree is at this point just an AA Degree for Computer Information Systems at a local community college but it is a springboard to greater and better things. It is also pretty much what my current job is lol. (This makes my current supervisor amused hehe.)

Said job allows a decent amount of down time and during this past summer I started becoming interested again in the things in the world that once mattered greatly to me. The plight of horses in this country once again crossed my consciousness and I started once again paying attention to what was going on. Started tuning into the fugly blog once more, and after I figured out what the heck had happened to it, realized it no longer had the bite or backbone it once did. 

Then, once my one year anniversary of 'freedom' passed in August, I decided to look this blog up again. Saw that people were still reading it and commenting. The question arose - should I resurrect it or leave it be? 

I started reading what I had written on past posts, and once again felt the fire start rising again. I debated for a full month whether or not I wanted to bring it back. The answer came back unequivocally clear - Yes I do wish to bring it back. As full of fire as it ever was. 

Hmm, that was a bit more then I had planned on saying but eh, its all good.

So, here we go. 

PS: Oh and just for fun, yes, I did end up buying another car :D