Arthur is very pleased to note that I have placed ‘goat nests’ in the runs. And if that isn’t enough, I change the bedding in them a few times a day. Who would ever want to leave this place?
The world is full of boundaries, but not all of them deserve respect. It’s up to each of us to learn the difference between hurting others and inconveniencing them… and then find a comfortable place to be just exactly who we are.
We are born individuals and being a bit goat-like isn’t the worst thing.
Anna Blake, Infinity Farm.
(WordPress Photo Challenge is a weekly prompt to share a photo- I enjoy twisting these macro prompts to share our micro life here on the Colorado prairie. My photos are taken with my phone, on my farm. No psych, definitely not high tech.)
“It’s up to each of us to learn the difference between hurting others and inconveniencing them… and then find a comfortable place to be just exactly who we are.” This is the theme of my life. Thanks again for finding the right words.
It isn’t a crime to be inconvenient. Thanks, Nadja.
I love this post! I am a goat person, too, had a small herd for 27 years. Once some representatives of a certain religious group showed up on my farm. At one point one of them said, “What would you rather be, a sheep or a goat?”. I said a goat, of course. They didn’t appreciate my preferences….;-)
Big smile from here… Thanks.
Funny, random story from a stranger: I really love your blog. It’s been life changing for me as a rider. Anyway, when I’m not doing dressage, I like to take my pony out and try ranch sorting here in northern Colorado. This weekend, they call a team over the loud speaker and said, “Anna Blake, you’re up next!” My head shot up as if they had announced the arrival of Justin Bieber. :)) Took me a minute to realize it probably wasn’t you. ? Deb Ft Collins
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I am cackling like a fat old hen! I have never been mentioned in the same sentence as Justin Bieber and I will be grinning all week. Thank you, and who is the northern Colorado Anna Blake??
Not sure…I only venture out of my happy little dressage world once in a while. Everyone stares at my English bridle a little too long…(hey! he likes it!).
After my own heart, my last upper level horse loved the cows…as for the bridle, it’s kinder and he likes that.
It also gives me an excuse for being such a sorry sorter…I just point to the bridle and squeak, “English rider!” The truth is, I just can’t imagine poking or yanking him hard enough to move that quickly.
Stick with dressage and you’ll have fast and light responsiveness without poking or yanking…but you’re right… when I was ridin’ with the boys, they thought I might be an alien but they liked my horse.
I loved my little herd of goats, kids like popcorn and the serene look of pupils like doorways. Love them. But I am not a goat, I don’t like pushing through other people’s boundaries and watching the discomfort. I’m much more comfortable walking with them through with my hand on their shoulder if they like and then again there are others who’d rather follow me through on their own time. It’s all just fine, takes all kinds. It’s been called “patient persistence in the proper position”. That I can do, quietly.
These choices we make have so much to do with our early mentors and our accident of birth. Born in a different place or time and we might be different people. And you are right… It’s all just fine, takes all kinds. Thanks for the comment, and you do know goats.
Funny, my husband calls it ‘blockheaded stubbornness!
brilliant! (having been through the goat raising phase and sadly they developed the equivalent of caprine AIDS, so the vet said our farm would never be free of that threat, so no more goats)
That’s sad, because goats do so inspire, this and that. Thanks, Emily.
That is sad, I might have to move. I have chickens and a kune kune pig, both are hilarious when they run and the donkey’s bray (with the mmph, mmph, mmph, snort at the end) cracks me up. If nobody runs or brays the two goats are sure to do something to make me laugh!.
Best wishes and good luck…find a way to stay.
Oh, I do recognise what you wrote, thank you so much for that. 🙂
We (www.triangis.be) coach different kinds of people with different kinds of animals (we have horses, pony’s, chicken, sheep … and goats. They are so funny! But they test your ability for setting boundaries, that’s for sure!
Thank you for your posts, I love them!
Greetings from Belgium
Hello to Belgium, thanks for reading. Goats help coach some valuable things, I bet.
Love the picture! Love the message. Always look forward to reading your Blog!
Hello! I’m responding with a picture of my horse Finn, who’s checking out his boundaries in the early morning September mist of the North East corner of Vermont. I think he’s wondering if the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence….( I hope sending a picture in the response is OK.)
I don’t currently have a blog. But hope to resurrect one when I retire from teaching next year. Although I love teaching it is a boundary that I want to expand in a different way in this stage of my life…
I enjoy your blog. Thank you, Sue
The photo didn’t come through (I’m not sure how that works) but link it again if you can. Congrats on your upcoming change of career; that’s what my book Stable Relation is about. Good luck on your adventure.
Love this on so many levels! Arthur is a great addition to your herd we look forward to many more stories of his adventures on the plains.
I just missed Barnie and Just Joe and Elvis and Sumo so very much. He does his best to continue their goatee traditions.
Oh, Anna, how very, very lucky Arthur and all the 4 leggeds are who live with you!!!
Nah, it’s the other way around, but thanks.
I just love Arthur in his goat nest. Ruby and Boca were happy to have their boundaries returned to normal yesterday. Always surprising, always humbling, this life with animals.
Amen to that. Plans and thoughts are one thing, but they do have minds of their own.
Years and years ago a “companion goat” was in residence at the barn my horse was in. His goat nest was an iron claw-foot bathtub that had occasionally served as a water trough. When he got old and arthritic the sun warmed that bathtub and he would get into it and feel comfy cozy.
Same warm place, but an antique bathtub is more sophisticated than a truck tire for sure. Got to love a barn goat for the constant reminder to just lighten up. Thanks for the comment.
I have 3 goats. Got them for goat packing. Have been raising them for a year and a half, for like horses, you have to wait until they are strong enough to carry. My husband doesn’t like them. It’s always a challenge to keep them in, and when they get out, they eat what he loves. He is the gardener/fruit tree grower and I am the animal person. The last time it was the elderberry bush. I too, have a menagerie. Horses, minidonkey, goats, chickens, geese, cats. I would have a dog, but I work long hours, and my husband doesn’t like them, either. Wouldn’t be fair to a dog. Or to the husband. I think, if you lived in the east we would be friends.
I do admit, I gave up my gardening habit in favor of goats…not sure that’s a fight I can win. I’d have to build a flower prison to keep them safe… Women like us generally don’t travel much, and we might never meet, but we are friends already… states away. Thanks for reading.
How entertaining everyone here is! Nice to live vicariously through all the posts. My husband (a native of the island of Antigua in the West Indies) used to care for goats as a youngster. He tells of how during hurricanes, his charges would huddle under the house (set on low posts) while he stuffed forage at the openings to feed them all as they weathered out the storm. He spent a fair amount of time with them under there, too!
Arthur would love a house set of posts! I have a very happy image in my head, thank you for your comment!