My humans have this very weird holiday this week. It’s called Thanksgiving. I hate it. It means fewer minions around for four whole days to open and close the door at my command. I understand it is a time when the humans eat a lot of food (I can get behind that), watch a lot of TV (I’m good with that, but only if I can sit on a lap), attempt to get along with family (I feel you there, Teannie and I struggle with this one), and give thanks for who, and what they’ve got (I should probably thank my humans, but I won’t). Thanksgiving did get me thinking about that last part, giving thanks. I’d like to give a shout out to a few folks (human and animal) that I think don’t get enough thanks during the year. I’m a cool cat like that.

The Horse Show Parent

From my supervisory position here at the Clinic, I’ve determined that being a parent is one tough job. Being a horse show parent has to be the hardest version of this job that exists. Shout out to the awesome horse show parents! You help your kids learn about taking care of this incredibly large, fragile beast. You send them out into the world to compete, knowing it’s tough, and knowing that you can’t always fix the problems, and knowing there will be some really, really important life lessons along the way. So thank you for getting up before the sun, thank you for working hard to help pay for it all, and thank you for being so darn supportive! It’s hard to watch kids grow up and become independent, but it also has to be great to watch them achieve hard fought goals. 

The Lesson Horse

Thank you doesn’t even begin to cover this one. These horses should be candidates for Sainthood. Their kind and forgiving souls take many of you humans down a one-way path to a lifelong love of horses. From teaching you what a trot feels like, and not dumping you in the dirt as you try to figure out how to ride this new, bouncy gait, to putting up with pulling and pushing at all the wrong times, lesson horses carry around an invisible halo. Without these guys, I doubt many of you would have stayed in this horse gig for long. 

Barn Staff

This is for all you humans with horses at boarding and training barns. These are the people who make sure your horse’s near constant needs are met. Rain, sleet, snow, cold, hot. They make sure poop is picked, food is served, and hay is delivered in a timely fashion. Sure, for lots of you, this person is you, but for those who rely on others to help with the horsekeeping, these are the people who make your horse’s life pretty great. For many in the horse show world, these are the people up hours before you arrive lunging, riding, bathing, and generally making sure everything is ready to go. Tell them thank you. Even better, bring them something to eat, and/or drink since they probably haven’t done either on anything resembling an appropriate schedule. If this person is you, get yourself some chocolate. You deserve it. 

The Barn Cat

Two words: rats and mice. You’re welcome. That’s all for this one. 

Horses take a lot of work. Take a moment to think about who deserves thanks for your horse life this Thanksgiving. 

Until next week,

~Tony