The Tall McCarthy's ride with the Short McCarthy's

Phone rings
Hello, we're coming for a visit!
Hurray!

Day's later they arrive in the midst of Seattle weather inoculated with a touch of Papua New Guinea's monsoon rainstorms.

A royal battle is raging in my soul that next morning. 5:00 AM and off to work I go... Hi Ho ... HI Ho it's off to work I go...
Work vs Family?
I line out all my electricians with the day's projects. Listen to their problems, solve what I can and by 9:30 I have ditched work and run for the hills.

Dodging rain drops we saddled up the horses and gave the Kids a ride. Helmets ahoy! Old Sharroq Kryiandra's 24 year old mare starts the adventure. Notice her mommy belly. Baby is on the way.

left to right
Micaiah, Josiah, Kelton, Shawn, Naamah, and Jedaiah

Saddling up the next day resulted in the most curious incident. (Just a little infomercial about stallions. They are a 1000 lbs of teenage hormones distracted by pretty mares. They have the tendency to forget everything except for the object of their desire. Problem with this if you are between them and he forgets you are there... squish, splat, oops! So Sorry senior. As a result you treat a stallion very different from other horses. Alway ride aware expecting the worst, think ahead for the stallion, react before he does, stay out of kicking distance of the old mares training the eager beaver it is not that lucky time of the month. A stallion is more aware of his surrounding, more eager to go ... etc. Then aware of all this you demand of him that he acts like any other gentle horse.)

This morning the most amazing thing happened. I strapped the buddy saddle behind me on Na-der (Shorty). He is our smallest and probably our gentlest stallion. Micaiah my nephew got to go on a long trail/bushwhacking ride over the woods and through the fields, negotiating gates and brambles. Shortly after our ride began I started to worry about the stallion. Was he sick, a fever, feeling bad?
I would climb out of the saddle and lead him through gates or up steep hills while Micaiah would slither out of the buddy saddle forward onto my saddle and grasp the horn for security. Nader would walk very slowly. Hesitate often. What was wrong with him? At times I would be urging him on wondering why is he obeying me so reluctantly? Slithering down rain sodden cattle trail. Over embankments and across swollen rivulets. Riding with us was Kelton on Chalua and Josiah on Peaches, both mares Nader had run at pasture with. Passing he would grunt a 'hello dolly' but nothing like the normal burble of joy at their close proximity. Several hours later we arrived back at the truck, unloaded Micaiah and unstrapped the buddy saddle off of Nader's back. Click someone threw a switch, Nader the Stallion returned! A light bulb flashed in my brain... wow! That horse sensed Micaiah on his back. He was not sick at all. Snorting and whinnying we galloped off down the road toward home.

Josiah on Peaches -- pregnant also...the horse silly!

Below is Nephtali out of Sassy by Emir
that is Kelton rounding the Chinese elm trunk

Naamah is making friends with Nephtali

On that first day the Short McCarthys arrived at the Tall McCarthys, as Grandma Fancy would would affectionately refer to us, we took the kids for a ride. As you can see Micaiah thought ridding behind me on Emir 'the Black Stallion' was awesome!

Jason watched the kids ridding up and down the old chicken barn with such wistful eyes that I saddled up Emir for him to ride. Such looks of concentration. Then on my part impressed amazement. My brother Jason could still ride. Perhaps not with the velvet smoothness of much recent practice, but he stuck there like a burr on a saddle blanket.

Everybody wants your help. Help me saddle my horse? Five saddles on five big pregnant mares later the kids horses waddled down the length of the barn.

By this time I was ready to ride also. I got Abayah our most spirited mare untied from her hitching post. Intending to ride Abayah bareback, I answered the call of another miniture person in need, leaving Jason holding my ride. Running to help squirt 1, 2 or 3 I tossed the admonishment over my shoulder. "No! I am the only one who rides that horse. She is a bit much of a handful to ride.' Kelton does not even ride that horse!

Long moments later I return to the barn. Only to see Jason clinging, like a circus monkey to the hairy back of an old billy goat, cantering from the other end of the barn. He was riding as if he had Velcro glued to the seat of his britches. So that is where Josiah his son got it from. Josiah took to riding like ducks take to water.


Nader gets a little nibble of corn while the boys look on. Just a quick shaping of his hoofs before the ride.


There is nothing like the farm life to make little Jedaiah happy. Such wonder at the little beating heart of a baby chick. He sat for the longest time lost in wonder on that couch.

Jason and Leona - thanks for bringing your family to visit. It was a lot of fun!

Recorded by the Meister, not the Misses this time. God bless ye all