A (Non) Horsey Husband?

Craig has always said that he absolutely is not a horse lover. Dogs? Yes. But not horses. Having said that, though, he has always supported me in my passion for all things equine.

Our youngest son, Cole with Craig and me in Denver, Colorado this past May.

Over the nearly 43 years we have been married, he has had a lot of experience working with horses, both live and model.

He's accompanied me to several BreyerFests and NANs over the years, including this year's BreyerFest.

When our children were little and we lived in Illinois, I had a half-Arab named Indy. Craig would come  out to the barn with the the kids and me and help them ride.

Eighteen month old Lisa sitting on Indy in 1984 while Sarah holds the lead rope.

Kyle (five years old) having a go round on Indy in the indoor arena while Craig walks beside him in 1986.

Our kids are all grown up, but Craig still comes out to the barn with me, for pleasure as well as to help as needed.

 That might include giving Abby some apple slices.

Or making a quick emergency run out to the barn after church (still in white shirt and tie!) when  Snickerdoodle and Sultanna had gotten out of the pasture.

I'll never forget a time when Tim was out of town and I was herd-sitting. As I was filling the water trough, I noticed that a piece of rebar had worked its way up through the soil and was protruding straight up a couple of inches high right next to the trough! 

Craig came out immediately with a pick ax and dug it out. It was long and buried deeply, but eventually he was able to pull it out so that none of the horses could step on it and hurt themselves.

Trouble, who is the nosiest horse I have ever known, had hung around watching while Craig dug. I'd shooed him away repeatedly so that he did not get hit while Craig was swinging that pick ax, but he would come right back.

When Craig was finally finished, Trouble insisted on having a chat with him. (I don't think Craig minded one bit.)

This spring when I had ordered nine sets of IKEA billy shelves, he was home for the delivery (I was teaching) and carried all the boxes upstairs for me so that I didn't have to.

Then, a few days later, he proceeded to put them all together for me as a surprise!

For a self-proclaimed non-horse lover, he sure has been involved with them a lot, hasn't he? I sort of think that he likes them more than he lets on.

The evidence sure is strong!

Double Trouble

That "trouble" would be Trouble the horse. But, it would also be real trouble, too. This afternoon as I was caring for the horses, I noticed this sticking out of the ground:

 I put a lead rope by it for perspective - that's rebar poking up through the soil.  (Look at the bottom middle of the picture.) And it's right in front of the water trough where the herd congregates several times a day.

That's trouble.

If a horse stepped on that rebar, it would be painful and it might damage the hoof. Or, if they fell or rolled on it, it could do some real harm.

Tim's out of town and I am in charge of the barn - I had to fix the problem. I tried wiggling the rebar, and did move it some, but I could not pull it out. The job was bigger than me.

So, I asked Craig for help. Sweet guy that he is, and despite how busy his schedule is at the moment, he grabbed some tools and drove to the barn with me. Craig couldn't pull it out, either, but he'd brought a pick axe and other tools to dig the rebar out of the ground.

 It proved to be a bigger job than than we'd anticipated. 

 That rebar was in deeply. 

And, Craig spotted a second piece of rebar sticking out of the ground that I had missed! More trouble!

He dug at them both, and they seemed to go down deeply and be attached to something, possibly each other. Unsure of what else he might find, Craig decided to use the axe and bend the rebars over and then bury them so the horses could not get hurt on them.

Of course, while all this is going on, someone REALLY wanted to help dig out and then bury the rebar. Who else, but Trouble himself?

I kept shooing him off, but back he would come. With the way that pick axe was swinging, I did NOT want him sticking his nose in to see what we were doing.

Do not let this sweet, innocent face fool you.

Trouble can be a VERY mischievous boy. Why, earlier this afternoon, he got it in his head that the lead rope on the gate had been put there for his personal entertainment. Take a closer look at Trouble's mouth.

See what I mean? 

 And when we finished burying the rebar, Trouble just HAD to get close to us and poke his nose in our business.

 Craig, gentle guy that he is, didn't mind, and gave Trouble some loving.

So, naturally, Trouble lived up to his name and tried to remove Craig's work glove!

In the meantime, we have a temporary fix on the problem. Unless the horses dig that rebar out tonight (who knows? With Trouble in the pasture, it could happen!) the horses are safe. And I'll let Tim know about it when he gets home.