I sure bet my critters wished I had friends when I was a kid!

[allenslabs]

LOL! Doing an assignment and it had to be based on a picture in my life so I was looking through these albums my mom has on this computer she gave me and she so painstakingly took the time to add old family photos in too. Well, in my search I found these two. I was only about 9 or 10 at the time and there weren't really any kids that lived close and my brother was 6 yrs older than me and had no desire to keep me busy so my animals were the ones who were forced to take up the slack. LOL!

[IMG][/IMG]
This is Hardtimer. Named him that cause his momma tried to kill him at birth and so...he had a hard time! LOL! But anyway...we bottle raised him and I am sure either sold him or ate him but he was my pet for quite a while. As you can see...we were good buddies.

[IMG][/IMG]
Then this is Rosie. She was a bottle calf we bought at the local auction and I am going to guess had some jersey or something in her. And no...I didn't ride her with the saddle...just tried to teach her to lunge like a horse did. Ya know...cows aren't the best at that in case you take the notion to teach one. LOL! Never did get it down and even got to where she didn't want to be caught...crazy thing. LOL! She raised many calves for us later on in life and even died of old age instead of shipping her off.

Just makes me laugh at thinking back. We lived in the middle of nowhere and there weren't many kids close. My poor critters took the brunt of it. There were also pictures of me and my donkey I tried to train....me and my dachound I had dressed up in clothes and even my poor cat who had to wear clothes. Oh and my horse who had a fancy wal-mart sled, homemade harness combination. LOL! Poor critters.

[gone-a-milkin]

That is the ideal childhood, in my opinion.

I remember spending days trying to teach a calf to wear rubber boots.
I had rubberbands and a roll of tape and some old boots from the tankroom.
In my mind I could picture leading the calf in the parade and everyone thinking she was just fabulous in a rain slicker and boots. (it always rained for that parade).

In real life? Well, calves dont really like to have things tied on their legs. LOL
My folks let me try it though.

I will admit that I sometimes STILL lower myself off the piperail onto the back of one of the older dairy cows occasionally.
I just love to see their head come up and their eyes widen when they realize what is happening.
I jump right off real quick though, since I dont bounce like I used to.

My sister was the bad one for drssing up the cats and dogs.
She would try to fit Barbie clothes onto small kittens, and get scolded severely for that.
The clothes have to at least FIT comfortably.


Ah, the good old days!

Thanks for sharing your pics, they are adorable.

[allenslabs]

It is fun isn't it? I remember being at my grandpas and he had a bottle calf and I put my grandmas makeup on that thing! LOL! She didn't know about the lipstick till years later LOL! Oh and her clip on earrings on its ears. LOL! Crossed the line when I tied its halter to a little pull along wheeled horse I had. LOL! Calf took off like a bolt and almost ran into the road! LOL! I remember having so much fun with those animals. Maybe that's why I'd rather be in a barn or talking to a cow than be around a bunch of people especially if I have to talk to them! LOL!

[gone-a-milkin]

LOL.

I was in dog 4-H all through my childhood.
One of the leaders had a dog cart and she would sometimes pair one of her rottweilers with a goat and give rides.

So...I got to thinking that it would be fun to try that with some animals myself.

Except I didnt have a goat. Or a big dog. Or a cart.But why would that stop me, age 11?

I did have a harness for training guide dog puppies.I did have a golden retriever puppy, a shetland pony, and a radio flyer wagon.

Talk about a train wreck.

<I got a spanking actually, and was lucky the dog survived>

But hey, that is how we learn, right?

The other time I got a spanking was at 9 years old, for sneaking out after dark and riding my pony across the freeway (I-5), to visit my other friend who had a pony.
That girl was a bad influence on me.

We would tie our ponies to the fence and take their bridles off them.
Then we would go and catch other people's horses and put our tack on them and ride them around in their fields.
Horses belonging to who knows who. Without permission or any info about those horses.
Never once got caught or hurt doing that either.

[allenslabs]

LOL! I can only imagine the train wreck that would have been. Now just wishing I had tried it! I do know that if you take a regular sized horse halter and flip it over, it will work as a make shift harness on a labrador. LOL! Ya know...stick their body through the head part, their neck through the nose hole and the underneath strip is on top. I also know that if you try to tie two labradors together with this makeshift harness and then tie a radio flyer wagon behind them....they CAN pull it. Just hard to make them go when I was in it so had to be in front and put stuffed animals and who knows what in them. LOL! I also know that an eskimo spitz can't pull a meat crate without wheels with much in it. LOL! Poor dog. LOL! He lived with my dad whom I only saw every other weekend and that dog, I later found out, would only come home every other weekend when I would be there.
Never tried that with riding other peoples horses in the dark. That's a good one!!! LOL!

[gone-a-milkin]

I think the only thing that saved my dog and pony cart show was that I hadnt tied the pony and dog together. They were hitched to the handle of the same wagon, but the pony wasn't harnessed.
That was my little sisters shetland pony, Tippy Toes. The only person who could make that pony even GO was me. Fattest little piggy pony you ever saw. LOL

I also got scolded (more than once ) for bringing livestock in the house.
I always thought it was just so hilarious to have ponies in the kitchen or calves in the bathroom.
I still kind of do.
My poor DH. LOL

[Goat Servant]

Love all your memories!

Before my brother was born, my only friend was a holstein named Henry. I'd run my toy cars & trucks on him.
Then there was my friend's family cow. I was about 8. One day she decided I should ride Sara. Cow balked I fell face first into Lake Manure.
My mother never noticed I didnt have my coat when it was time to leave.
Later when I was 16 would ride my horse to boyfriend's cabin way after dark.
I couldnt see a thing but he knew where he was taking me. Found out later a couple of friends would ride him & wondered why he was so headstrong about the destination.

[gone-a-milkin]

LOL, Goat Servant.

The last place I lived in NM, there was a guy who would just get stinking drunk at the local bar.
He had his license revoked for DWI years before and rode his POA named Bluebell everywhere.
If he was alert enough to stay on her, she would carry him home every time.
There was more than once that I unhitched Bluebell and led her up to the back patio of the place.
The bartender would help him mount up and we would send them on home. (about 3 miles).
It was really a touching relationship between them.

Bluebell had a very exact path she would travel willingly.
I rode her sometimes and you would have to argue a little not to be heading straight to the bar. LOL

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by gone-a-milkin

LOL, Goat Servant.

The last place I lived in NM, there was a guy who would just get stinking drunk at the local bar.
He had his license revoked for DWI years before and rode his POA named Bluebell everywhere.
If he was alert enough to stay on her, she would carry him home every time.
There was more than once that I unhitched Bluebell and led her up to the back patio of the place.
The bartender would help him mount up and we would send them on home. (about 3 miles).
It was really a touching relationship between them.

Bluebell had a very exact path she would travel willingly.
I rode her sometimes and you would have to argue a little not to be heading straight to the bar. LOL

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