We had a wonderful Easter, this year Blake was really into the Easter bunny, he still plays with his Easter bunny that he made out of a paper plate! Blake and I dyed Easter eggs together this year, and he did a great job, he loved "tossing" the eggs into the different colors and switching the eggs into different cups of dye, (we ended up with a few broken eggs and some really ugly colored eggs!) it was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. I also brought Blake to his first movie, Hop. I was shocked at how good he did! Blake sat on my lap and ate his popcorn and watched the entire movie like such a big boy! We also went and saw the Easter Bunny at the mall, we patiently waited in line to see him, Blake was so excited to see him he could barely sit still! I was too, until the prize Blake got from the bunny, exploded in the backseat of my car, confetti everywhere! Easter morning Blake got to go find his Easter basket that the Easter bunny hid, he found it right away and was super excited about the toys and of course the candy he got!
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| Coloring Easter eggs! |
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| Checking out all his goodies the Easter bunny brought him! |
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Kevin's opening night win in Menomonie, he dedicated it to me and Turk (who we had to put down that day) |
We have a really big yard that seems to grow a foot each week, and Kevin is super picky about his yard looking nice, so Blake thought it would be a good idea to "help" daddy!
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Blake tipped the wheel borrow over before this, now he's trying to do it again...ha ha ha  |
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| The middle of May and he's bundled up! |
Sadly on May 6th I had to put my horse Turk to sleep. I had had him for 14 years and I can honestly say he was one of my best friends, he knew all my secrets, hopes and dreams and never told a soul, and he probably had more of my tears on his back then anyone growing up! I got Turk when I was 11 years old, I wanted a horse so bad and we had looked at so many horses and Turk was the only one that listened and did everything I had asked him to do, he was this beautiful, huge 16 hand thoroughbred, ex race horse, ex polo horse, way too much horse for a little girl, but I fell in love with him! I begged my parents for months to buy him for me, and finally I wore them down and Turk was mine! I had so much fun on him, I learned sooo much, lots of bumps, bruises and falls, but it was a blast! When me and my sister started to show interest in horse shows, my mom knowing that Turk wouldn't be the best show horse offered to sell him so I could get a show horse, there was no way in h*ll I was going to do that, so I showed Turk knowing we weren't going to be blowing the competition away, except at speed, no one was going to out run Turk! Mainly I just trail rode Turk. When I moved to Cameron, I left Turk in Duluth for a while and that just didn't work out for me, I missed him way too much! I found an awesome stable to board him at, so Turk moved down :-) Once he got settled in at the stable I noticed he had bite and kick marks on him, which ticked me off to no end, because Turk had always been the "herd boss" and had never got kicked or bit at my parents house. I would go home and cry to Kevin about it, that's when we started looking for land to build on. Once we found our 22 acres, we first built 3 pastures and a barn, we called it Turk's retirement home. When we moved Turk here, we also bought another horse Breezy, he was younger and good companion for Turk. (Kevin and I could then go for rides on our trails.) About 2 1/2-3 years ago I retired Turk, meaning that he was a pasture horse, who was spoiled rotten! That's also when I noticed his knees getting inflamed and he was diagnosed with arthritis. We put Turk on glucosamine to help and that helped for a while, then in 2010 my old vet told me it was time to put Turk down, because the arthritis had progressed so much. I panicked and did some research on what I could do for Turk. Turk was always so strong minded, my rough, tough, cream puff, he would never show me if he was hurting, he would power through, his body may have been starting to fail, but not his mind, that's probably why I couldn't stand the thought of the end. I had x-rays done, injections into his knees and a second opinion from my new vet (who is amazing!) who thought we should continue to try to help him, since Turk was still so strong and fighting it. We put Turk on some new glucosamine that really helped a lot, along with a daily dose of pain medicine. It all helped, he had a great last summer and even through most of the winter he was doing great. Things started getting hard on Turk in February, he was getting his hooves trimmed and he has to be sedated in order to get that done, it was a really bad experience and I knew then him and I couldn't go through that again. About that time is when he started losing weight, he has always been on a weight builder in his feed that has always maintained his weight. Sadly I knew the time was approaching, I've dreaded this moment for over a year. The hardest part is knowing his body is shutting down, but his mind was still there, fully alert, still had his attitude, still the "herd boss". Saying good-bye to Turk was the hardest thing I've had to do, it still makes me sick thinking about it. It was like saying good-bye to your best and oldest friend and your childhood all at once. I'm thankful that Kevin, my mom and dad and my wonderful vet where there with Turk and I, it was very peaceful and calm, my vet said it was actually easy, almost like Turk was ready to go, she was expecting him to put up more of fight (meaning not take the sedative very well). Turk was 25 years old, he lived longer than most thoroughbreds, I like to think because I refused to give up on him, and I did everything and anything to help him get better or at least comfortable. I am thankful he is no longer in any pain and can rest in peace. Turk may be in heaven but he will always be in my heart.
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My sweet Turk  |
