Home means different things to different people..horses…and frogs…well at least one frog.

For me, home is where my family, critters, and routines reside. My hope for the horses is that home now means a safe place where they have the food, pasture time and kind attention they need. Then there’s the frog.

There is a tiny little white frog who lives in the lower pasture water tank. I feel a little stab of guilt at my insensitivity when he comes swooshing out of the tank when I tip it to get the old water out. Because of his pale color I don’t see him till it’s too late, and I’ve upended his world. Spilled from the tank he hops off slowly but not till looking at me (at least he appears to be looking at me) with his dark brown eyes as if to say: “Pardon me?! Someone is living in here.”

I’m never sure how he returns to the tank. He must climb the polystyrene walls with his sticky feet. But the next time I change the water, he’s in there again and distracted me forgets to look out for him. I don’t want to attribute human thinking to him, but he is willing to come back to the tank even though he was rather abruptly forced out of it. Even in difficult circumstances, home has a pull to it. Sky Ranch Sanctuary provides a home for horses and at least one white frog.

Because of the unique nature of horse ownership, there are no accurate figures to document how many unwanted horses exist. Unlike as to dogs and cats, many state laws regarding the abuse and/or abandonment of horses treat horses as “livestock” rather than pets, allowing for much greater leeway in their treatment. Also it is safe to say that tens of thousands of horses are sent to slaughter each year, while some unwanted horses are euthanized. With economic downturns, the number of abandoned or neglected horses rises exponentially.

Sky Ranch Sanctuary currently houses and cares for four horses and we are hoping to expand to care for a total of six. (We want to keep the size manageable for myself and Madeline Royal [horse caregiver extraordinaire] to do the day to day care and maintenance.)

At times I think this is such a drop in the bucket that it seems an exercise in futility. We’re so small. But then I look at the horses we have and remind myself that to Sheldon, Spirit, Party Girl and Snitch, our small haven is everything. They are wanted horses given the care and attention all horses deserve. And that is something that matters.

If you are deathly afraid of spiders, you might not want to hang out in a barn. I know very little about spiders, but I do know they like barns…at least ours.

Recently there was a large black round one with a bright design on her midsection…she had her web inside the trash can where we store the wheat bran. (My son said she’s probably a Black Widow.) I carefully scooped the bran around her web. Two days later, she was gone. Then there are of course the mice… they are cute to be sure but skitter around too much for my nervous nature, and though I can live with them being there, I’d rather not see them.

A mention of barn mice must be followed with a tribute to barn cats. We’ve had an assortment of feral cats at the barn over the years, and it’s so easy to grow fond of them. We have a couple right now who let me pick them up but scamper away from anyone else. I feed them, so that’s no surprise. There is one survivor of an entire litter of feral cats whose mother settled them in different places around our ranch several years ago, moving them when a person took too much interest in her kittens. We named the mother Hissie (for obvious reasons). One of her established “homes” for the kittens was in a classic car chassis (probably a MB 300SL, my husband’s specialty) in my husband’s auto restoration shop which is on the property.

Hissie may not have had a family tree of well bred champions, but she had class. She lived in the barn for a few years and then slowly the inherent dangers for outdoor cats ended the family except for Frostie, a long-legged, elegant silver- gray tabby who still lives there, along with Princess Anne (who was dropped off here in the dead of night with her mother and litter mates). There is also “BK” (Bully Kitty) who is entirely feral and tries to run off the other cats. Archie, our dear dog, rounds out the barn crowd, though he spends part of his days and all of his nights on our couch or bed in the house. I’m sure there are other creatures out there that I haven’t come across yet, who hint of their presence with overturned cat food dishes and apparent attempts to get into cat food cans with tooth and claw. Well, I have come across skunks in the feed room. That story will wait for another day. A close call.

People express their love of horses in different ways. I’d love to claim to be a “horsewoman.” But I’m not…at least as I would define “horsewoman”…as someone involved in the care, training and riding of horses. Though I have loved horses for as long as I can remember, I didn’t become actively involved with them until I was in my early 40’s. Since then I have taken many riding lessons and found riding thrilling…and scary. I usually felt I was going to go flying off in space and was relieved and a bit proud of myself to survive each lesson. It wasn’t the falling off that scared me…did that quite a few times and without much discomfort, other than having sand embedded in my face…but afraid of just losing my balance and being tossed to the winds. Until we moved to our ranch in 2001, I had boarded my horses and others did the care while I either took lessons or watched them eat…yes I would watch them eat as if entranced. A seasoned shoer once commented: “you just love them and want to be near them.” After my three horses (2 Thoroughbreds and an Arab) came to live here at the ranch, I learned how to care for them and realized how much pleasure that gave me. When my Thoroughbreds died of age related causes and as my law practice slowed moving towards retirement, I got the idea for Sky Ranch..a sanctuary for older or unwanted horses. So being a horse caregiver is my calling. I get some bittersweet feelings at times watching videos of horsewomen galloping on the beach or achieving amazing athletic things while partnering with their horses…but that’s not me. There are many ways to support and enjoy these remarkable creatures. Sky Ranch Sanctuary gives me a chance to do it my way.