West Virginia Wrangler

Dear Reader,

The alternate title for this post was "Mommy, Can We Keep Him, Pleeeaaase??!!!," but was met with disapproval by the subjects in question. In any case, this is a story about my sister, two horses, and where the inclination comes from to rescue animals in need.

Whenever I visit West Virginia, there is always some kind of adventure. Sometimes it's mine, sometimes it's my family members'. This time, it was my sister's.

When I arrived, I got the regular update: current events in and around Adrian and Buckhannon, WV. One of the latest this time was that there were a pair of horses seen wandering loose on one of the main roadways down there, Route 20. This is akin to the occasions when livestock get loose on the Belt Parkway, or some other major thoroughfare in the City. Confusion and sometimes, hilarity ensue.

At some point my sister and her friend went up the road, which is very near to our place up there, to check on these horses to see if they were still wandering loose or had happened to find their way home. They had found a great place, not their home, but someone else's backyard complete with hay and some shelter. My sister happened to run into the animal control officer down there, who determined that the horses needed to be corralled, because they were not in their own yard. However, he didn't have the necessary facilities to either lasso the horses, or board them until their rightful owners were located. Fortunately, my sister had access to both.

As it happened, one of her neighbors from up the road happened by as the conversation was taking place. He agreed to bring his horse trailer over after he'd finished his other errands, to load the horses up and take them over to our farm (my family's, where my sister lives) to stay with her other horses. Then word would be put out that the horses had been "rescued" and were being held until proper proof of ownership was demonstrated, and a valid excuse for why the horses were wandering free was given.

So, my sister brought the necessary tack, her neighbor brought the trailer, and she got the horses into their coach with a minimum of trouble; got them over to the farm, and they seemed happy as clams in their new digs. Later on, the owners did come by, and the legal issues (restitution for property damage, animal boarding and care, etc,) were handled.

This is just a demonstration on a larger scale of something my family has always done: taken in the lost, damaged, ill animals (and sometimes people as well), given them a place to stay, and tried to help them if possible. Our first pet, in my recollection, was a stray cat that got caught in some outdoor furniture. We kept him ("Mommy, can we keep him, Pleeeeaaaasseee!!!???"), and even took him with us when we moved from New Mexico to Rhode Island! I don't know where this tendency comes from. For me, it comes from the feeling that I can't watch an animal suffer, since almost always they are suffering at the hands of some idiotic human. In the case of wild animals, helping them may be some effort to try to make up for generalized guilt at what we humans have done to their environment. I'm not sure if this is why my Dad feeds the birds (and deer, cats, and any others comers), but that's why I put the occasional seed bell out in the Park for the birds.

Both of my sisters have this same penchant, although with the farm, my youngest sister is in a position to do a lot more than most. She has taken in stray cats; dogs have been dropped off; there have been ducks, chickens, and these latest horses. Some of my "saves" have been cats I've taken from folks who no longer wanted them, a baby snapping turtle (who I couldn't save), and a baby pigeon, who I did raise successfully.

In looking back, I'm glad we've extended ourselves this way. In my case, taking in unwanted cats (and buying one from crackheads) has proved to be a source of much affection and satisfaction; they have all become wonderful pets and companions. Sadly, our similar efforts with humans have not always been so successful. As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. Usually, though, horses are smarter in this regard than people are!

Yeehah!
Catbird