Freedom

When we moved into our "dream home" back in August, we had such hopes. It truly is a beautiful home. But, it has not been that which we had hoped. First, when the landlord left, in addition to leaving a room full of his shit and bits scattered throughout the house, he abandoned; one dog, two horses, and two cats.
The land the house is on, is owned by his father, who continues to ranch all the land around our little "dream" home. The father has been responsible for feeding and watering the horses and for the dog, who has lived in our chicken coop for the three months we've lived here. The cats were on the verge of death when we moved in. Skinny, and greasy.One had what we thought was a horrific abscess that would surly be her undoing, that actually proved to be the process of losing of an eye. She is fat and sassy, as is her sister- albeit she is a bit wary on her newly-blind side.
Regarding the dog, one could ask, why haven't we tried to make the dog part of our family? Well, we did. She is a pit bull, and as near as I can tell, she has spent her whole life in the coop. We let her out once, and that was enough for us to realize we could not let her out again. So in the coop she sits. It is tragic.

One of the horses, Freckles, has been out with the cows in a huge field. The other, Freckle's daughter- whom we've been calling Clover, was locked in a smaller pasture, alone. Although the father did make sure she had water and hay, she got nothing else. No interaction. No grooming. No hoof care. She is a full on wild horse. If she had been plucked off the plane and placed in the pen, she would be no less wild. We have spent many,many hours trying to connect with her. Coaxing her to trust us. There have been small connections, but trust comes slowly in horses. Last week, she was relegated to a teeny 20x20 section of the pen. This was during all the horrid weather we had last week; and a sort of mud-shit soup was churned under her anxious hooves. She was furios, and terrified. She kicked and stomped at us. As the snow fell, we took her a warm mixture of brown rice and applesauce, and she licked it from the trough, after she'd tried to kick us. I went out to check on her the next morning, and she was lying down, in the one dry corner of the pen. We were beginning to get anxious ourselves. It woould be too easy for her to slip and break a leg in that muck, and she was getting more freaked out by it. It is not easy to live in such close proximity to this and not be able to help. We took her feed, and tried to talk to her, this only added to her anger, and she ultimately lashed out at us. It was horrible.

Then, the next morning...... ......she was free.

She had finally been let out into the pasture with her mother and the cows. She was afraid at first, and kept to herself out under a large juniper. But, afer only a few days, she seems so much happier.

All of this happened about the same time we were making the decision to move. Our "landlord" as you might hae guessed by now, is not a terribly considerate person. Though the house is beautiful. It is too expensive, and we just can't live with his baggage anymore. So, in the next few weeks, we'll be moving. To another farm. This one owned by friends. The house is small, but it has a great deal of potential. We wren't worried about Clover anymore. She looks better, and seems so much more eager to be near people. The cats will be fine, because they are coming with us. I'll call ASPCA about the dog as soon as we get moved.