Hi there...Susanne alerted me to this thread's existence and I thought I'd say hey!
Kari G introduced me to LB in 1997, right at the time my Cherry Bomb was born. It was a great place to while away hours on mare stare, or in the rainy Winter months between show seasons, brag about wins, console each other over losses, connect with people. I have met so many friends here and I treasure them all.
I still have just two minis, Cherry and Lailah, both born here and they are 15 and 11, respectively. It is too hard for me to think of someone not caring for them properly or breeding them and not caring about the foals, etc. One thing that raising minis for over 10 years gave me was a bit of a cowardly attitude in respect to selling them or adopting them out in some cases. I miss having foals, but not the prospect of selling them and hearing later that they were starved, beaten, neglected. It is a HUGE job to breed a mare to a stallion, and it is also full of rewards.
Also: My family purchased a fishing vessel, the Lady Laura, a 65' steel crabber/troller based in Warrenton, OR (a mini version of the Deadlist Catch type boats). It has consumed every available space and dollar and also my ambition to raise more critters or put time into traveling around to shows. The truck now hauls a flatbed full of gear instead of a mini horse trailer, and the barn now houses buoys and pots, line and parts instead of horses and hay. I hope to pursue having more horses at another time in my life, but I know that the two old girls I have are content to graze and meander around the pasture in each other's company. I did have to re-home Mouse, my beloved gelding, because he was bored and the odd man out with the women. He was ramping up his negative behavior and was very happy to find his new home, as was I.
My two youngest sons are now 11 and 8, and they also keep me too busy to do justice to more horses. They are more the video game/motorcycle/school sports minded kids anyway, so again we had a conflict of interest.
Who knows, we may come back over to the "light side" but for now, just too darn busy and I do most of my online socializing through Facebook with the new networks I have, although many of you are there, too. Look me up by my email address:
[email protected] if you like!
Liz