Horses of Dreamcatcher Farm happy to get home. Stallion DreamMaster at bottom. Photos by Jill Dingle.
bottomed out at the same time, allowing us to continue functioning effectively and with a degree of humor. I once again found solace in e-mails.
Today I would normally be harvesting from my raised vegetable
beds, watching the babies cavort and stretch their growing limbs or training for the Alberta CDI . Instead I feel robbed of the summer. This is the time we patiently plan and train for during the long winter months. However, I can safely say my love of the summer activity of building and sitting around bonfires is likely extinguished forever! We are now seeing the results of years of bloodline research and
careful planning in our very correct foals with their stellar international pedigrees. We have dreamed of watching their exceptional good looks; loving, easy temperaments and big movement mature to the ridden stage. Now on back of the credit crunch we have this disaster. Insurance appears to not cover our loss of income from boarders, lessons etc. We are paying board for our own animals and for ones that normally pay us, not to mention missing the annual goal of showing the fruits of our labour at competitions in hand and under saddle. What was already a tough time now looks daunting. I just pray the Equimat stock (sadly uninsured) comes through this unscathed and we can find good owners at fair prices for the youngsters. I can’t seem to kick this feeling of helplessness and for the first time I am finding that I can’t forget about it all when I am in the saddle. I seem to have run out of emotional fuel and would just like to sleep through the rest of this. Many of you have written to say how brave you think I am. Believe me, it is all a façade. I am thoroughly scared and in great fear of our economic well-being at the end of this. Whew! Sorry about that. It is later and I have reminded myself that
others have it much worse than us. I have always reasoned we are just tenants of whatever wonderful part of this world we call our “own” anyway. We still have our health, our lovely animals, our friends and, at the moment, Dreamcatcher Meadows in one form or another, to go back to. We just have to pray and trust that this will play out as it is meant to, and we will be wiser and better people for it. Still, I really wanted to secure those breed championships and nail the Intermediare I... (see —no danger of my becoming a saint! LOL!) We’ll talk tomorrow. Love from the fireside...
We are in constant contact with staff member Dana who has
remained behind to care for the twenty-five charges billeted in the area. The foals are not thriving in their temporary home. They have been born to the luxury of large Equimatted foaling stalls and pristine lush fields, reserved just for the mothers and newborns, and few biting insects due to running water. They are losing condition with 24 hour turnout and the incessant mosquitoes. The colt Lancelot has a bad chip on one hoof and is not walking straight. Still, none of it is life threatening and word has it we may be able to move back soon. When I look back on this now, I think it is remarkable we were
able to not miss a beat and keep our own horses and clients’ horses in full work. As an illustration, in the group were a couple of homebred two year olds that the purchaser was boarding with us
14 July/August 2010
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