And the Lord directs our Path

Sometimes it looks as if we are choosing our steps, but the Lord always has his hand on us, guiding us, and directing our paths. I am thankful for the opportunity to begin to dream again, but Noble won't be the one to fulfill it. Gut instinct coupled with encouragement from many wise counselors gave me the inclination to do some further research before I drove 5 hours to see him. I called the trainer who had him for almost a year, and the breeder who first owned him. The information they shared was very revealing to say the least. Leaving out unnecessary details - suffice it to say that he SHOULD be gelded. He is a carrier of a genetic defect called SCID which is fatal when matched with another carrier. It is particularly prevalent in Arabians.
So the dream is alive again, but it will remain just that - a dream... for now anyway.

We have also made the decision to sell down our goats so the children can focus more on horses. The challenge will be to find a way to financially support our 'habit' with horses. Goats and their by-products are much more marketable and breaking even is at least attainable. I am told the only way to make a small fortune in the horse industry is to start with a large one. I am still leaning toward buying and selling - and breeding. I was even thinking that it would be really cool to market Parelli Ponies - but I am sure that we'd have to come up with another name. I think it would be a great market though - to play the seven games and get them to level 2 - then include in the purchase price an introduction to Parelli and how to have a relationship with the horse with an emphasis on safety. I was also thinking about OTT TBs - restarting them and then finding suitable partners for them would be a way to rescue some horses and support our habit too. Like with goats, I think our challenge might be letting them go! :)

New pictures might still be a long time coming. We got a new battery but apparently it is the charger that is not working. It may be a challenge to find a new one since they don't even make the model we have anymore.