Day: May 10, 2014

Maria and I are heading to New York City first thing in the morning. This trip is important to me. I am going to meet with Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Calf Buffalo Pipe of Peace, Chief Arvol and I are both going together to witness an animal rights demonstration against the horses and to talk with one another. He has asked me to come and meet with him. He is conducing a prayer ceremony in Central Park for peace and for the carriage horses, he is speaking out against the breaking of their sacred connection with human beings.

I am going for several reasons. I believe the assault on the carriage trade and the carriage horses is an injustice, and a great mistake. These horses represent many things in human history, and are one of the last links between our greatest city and the natural and animal worlds. I believe they are safest and best cared for right where they are, they have work to do that is meaningful to many people.

The carriage horse owners and drivers have been subject to a long and unnecessarily cruel campaign, they have suffered greatly simply for doing their jobs, pursuing their own work and living their lives.  They have broken no laws, committed no crimes. There is no evidence the horses are abused, unhappy, overworked, unsafe, or uncomfortable.

Chief Arvol believes deeply that all working horses and humans should be protected by law as they serve a deep cultural and spiritual purpose in keeping a sacred connection alive for future generations. This connection is in great danger, if the horses are banished from New York, they will disappear from our world.

I’ll bring my camera and do some blogging from New York. I’ll return to the farm with Maria on Tuesday.

Okay, okay, Maria says we will do a lamb notecards featuring Liam and the other lambs. I am getting a lot of requests about him, we will get them ready for the Open House in June if we have time. I was inside the pole bar with Ma and I saw that Liam climbed up on Suzy, his mom and decided to take a nap on her head. Suzy is a wonderful mother, gentle and accepting, and she put up with it, and I almost fell over trying to get a photo.

Liam is a rock star, for sure. He is the lamb of entitlement.

Dr. Jason Weinstein of the Granville Large Animal Service gives the second lamb a vitamin booster, he was sluggish and small. The female is a hellion like Liam, they will be a good match for one another. No names yet. Maria wants to keep some and give a couple away when they are weaned. She doesn’t want any of them to go to market.

Maria and I spent the day with Ma, encouraging her, trying to make her comfortable, talking to her, visualizing birth, looking up her very messy butt. Maria says I can’t call her dumb anymore, as she was brave and patient and determined, and she is a great mother, attentive and gentle. This was her first lamb, we didn’t quite realize there was another one in there, she looks like Liam’s twin.

This was one of the most remarkable weeks in my life with animals, I was challenged and tested in so many ways, and I am very happy with the way it turned out. There were so many ethical and financial and other decisions involved, it tested my values, patience, knowledge of lambing and notions about communications. I think I grew a bit this week.

It was difficult, it was wonderful. It is why we are here, what life is about, this is the life we chose and this is a part of it. Maria say she will never do it again, but I bet she reconsiders that, it is the most wonderful feeling on the earth to make the right call about an animal and to pull a baby out of a womb and see it stand up and walk. There are not too many comparable experiences, I am nothing but grateful for it.

After the twins were out, I asked Jason to check to make sure there weren’t triplets and to help clean out Ma’s insides. No more babies, thankfully.