Gaelin, the Gentle

Gaelin the Gentle
01-25-86 to 01-27-10

It's been two days now, and its time to let his friends know.
Yaas
Willa




Big boned 16Hh bay AppendixQuarterhorse with a kind and gentle heart. He helped start the equestrian program in Artemisia, and my therapeutic horseback-riding program for victimized kids. Before he came to me, he was a track horse (California) and then a competitive jumper (Jackson Hole, WY), and I think he played a little polo there too. His name then was ET (short for Esperanca Two). I was told he was quite a handful in his younger years. Some thought he was a crazy horse as he did buck his last owner off a few times. I didn't believe that he was crazy, but that he only had vision problems; and that he did. To me, he was a magnificent creature and said 'yes', when he was offered to me. Right away he was turned out for the winter into a field with 7 other geldings. Watching him interact with the other horses taught me that he lacked confidence. I changed his name to Gaelin and told him he was retired from having to be brave, and only if he wanted to, he could be brave; but it wasn’t required. Within a few months, he taught me that all he really needed was someone to trust, to guide him with confidence. Over the years, several opportunities arose where we learned to trust him. For almost 10-years the circle of trust flourished.

As an SCA gaming horse, he helped introduce foam-tip jousting, mounted archery and crest-combat to Artemisians. Many Artemisian equestrians rode him, from young kids to gamers to royalty. In the modern world, he carried my husband Joseph to the top of some pretty steep mountains... I like to think that Gaelin was his horse... and set the pace in many parades, which we love to do, even behind noisy fire engines. He carried me on my first sidesaddle canter; and down the polo field at a full gallop for my first true "bump"... a tactical move for taking your opponent off the line-of-the-ball so you or your teammate can steal it (the ball, that is) away for a goal. Wow! That was a thrill! With such strength and endurance, I could always imagine him in his youth and how he must've exploded over fences in the jumping arena. Yet with all his mightiness, he was THE best gentle lesson horse in my riding program. He understood what was needed of him and enjoyed his retired life carrying little darlings around and helping them to gain confidence in themselves. He would nuzzle them before and afterwards and look longingly with his soulful eyes at me always questioning, "What's next?"

Gaelin was 24-years and 2 days old, and euthanized in peace January 27, 2010.

Out of all the horses I’ve had the honor to caring for, I felt a special commitment to Gaelin; to do the best I could to spare his life from any trauma. This prayer is befitting for such a giant of a heart of a horse.

"And, my friend, when I am very old and I no longer enjoy good health, hearing and sight, do not make heroic efforts to keep me going. I am not having any fun. Please see that my trusting life is taken gently. I shall leave this Earth knowing, with the last breath I draw, that my fate was always safest in your hands."

Happy 2010

Well, it's finally here, 2010. And as you can see above, we actually have water in our Dream River! To me, it looks pretty cool because it means we have had LOTS of water coming down lately. You can see from the picture above that there is still lots more to come. In a desert, this is really good news.

I finally noticed this morning, that the sun is rising earlier. That is going to make it a lot easier to go out and feed before I take off for work. At this time of year, we really start looking forward to spring, summer, and fall when we can really gear up to go out and ride. We've got some really fun things planned. Patty introduced us to a whole bunch of new horse games that we are excited to try out with our kids (and ourselves). We will continue to do our medieval horse recreation, and of course Kid's Camps are going to be great!

We did more full moon rides last year than the year before, and I really hope for even more this year! Plus lots of trail rides during the day.

We are looking forward to meeting some new ranch friends we haven't even heard of yet. We are looking forward to Douglas and Connie coming to stay with us and see if they would like to become part of our community. Wave! Hi Douglas and Connie! We are looking forward to meeting Pat, and also perhaps Nancy. And next summer, we hope to see our volunteer friends back for even more fun!

The garden has the infrastructure almost completely done, this year we should have a bang up garden and we are looking forward to building a root cellar. We think at this time, that we are going to use one of the berms we will be putting up as the base for our cellar. Who knows? We might even be able to get some our Dream River Ranch produce to the Mountain Home Farmer's Market.

Possibly, we will build a new chicken coop this year using straw bale construction. We just have to finalize where we really want to put it, because once it's built, we aren't moving it.

Hopefully, we'll get some roofs for our horse wind breaks, so they can have better shelter from the elements.

I'm hoping to get the website even better than it is right now, since I've already started working on it, it's a distinct possibility.

Most of all, we hope for our community of friends for this next year: health, joy, blessings, and most of all....life!