One Mans Trash

Sassy Sites  asked for it so here's mine... ALL of mine.
I'm also adding a table [to the end of this post] I actually picked up on the side of the road, and yes got quite the look from my hubby over.  I have no 'befores', but trust me it needed saving!

I have been a horse lover all my life.  According to my mother I was talking about horses since the age of 2 when I wanted to BE a horse.  After I came to realize I could not BE a horse, I just wanted one.  BAD.
I don't know where this innate 'horsey-ness' came from, and many times I have wished it wasn't so much a part of me, but there you are.

I finally got my horse at 24, after I graduated college, scrimped and saved, and found a horse who reminded me so much of my favorite lesson horse MAcGregor that I just could not pass him up.  I bought him intending to put some 'miles' on him and reselling him.
Over the years my hot, red-headed, Off the Track Thoroughbred [OTTB] earned many reputations, most of them not as flattering as they could have been.  I ended up keeping that horse because, honestly, as wonderful as he was as an athlete, he was also a handful that many just would not have tolerated.

Look closely at his mouth, hes trotting off with stalks of grass hanging from his lips

I consider him One Mans Trash... that was and is my Treasure.

As with many things, my plans for my riding life did not work out as planned, and here we are almost 20 years later.  He's retired, and apparently [due to finances] so am I.  But the lessons I learned along the way certainly make up for the road I intended to travel but detoured.

As many of you may know a few years ago I was made aware of the plight of horses who head to slaughter for human consumption and another passion was born.
I volunteer at a horses rescue near me.  This organization is amazing, the network they have and the works they do... so heartening!
Rescue shows you the worst in people [those who neglect or abuse] but then also the best in people [others who spend their Sundays in the rain, cold,... you name it... helping animals in need].
I spend alot of time writing my legislators to pass the Federal ban on slaughtering and exporting for slaughter, US horses, and shouting from the roof tops to raise awareness of this inhumane industry.
You can find more info on all that here:

http://www.kaufmanzoning.net/

The bottom line for me is that these horses are not 'unwanted', but they are many times 'under-marketed', and in many cases misunderstood.  So many times a horse comes into a rescue, finally gets worked with by someone with an open mind, and voila!  You find out the horse is 'misbehaving' or has not reached it's potential because s/he has an un-addressed medical issue, was trained for a different discipline or not trained at all, or worse- trained by someone who shouldn't be training Lamps,.... or otherwise truly has an 'excuse' for not having become all it could be.

You put those horses into the hands of a rescue and....

Suddenly what was once One Mans Trash... becomes another mans Treasure.


Speaking of pets that are misunderstood... my very first dog was a Beagle named Joey, or as I called him Joseph Napolean.  He had some serious 'little man' syndrome going on.
I had to put Joey to sleep this past spring, after his back went out for one last time and would just not resolve.  Many people who I contacted to share the news with were astounded to learn I still had him!  The girl who saved him 12 years earlier responded in shock, something to the effect that he certainly must have found his rightful home with me, as no one else would have put up with him.

There's a life long theme- animals no one else can put up with seem to flourish here.

Joeys 'problem' was not willfullness, or that he was 'bad', per se.
That dog was SMART.
So smart.
He was certainly a challenge.  He was 'misunderstood'.  There will never be another dog like him, and I mean that in a good way, not in a 'whew, thank the Lawd!' way.

Joseph Napolean Beagle

You can't find a Treasure if you're not willing to really look at something closely, and understand it.

Since having to put Joey down, I have 'adopted' a lovely little female Beagle named Hailee, who was dumped in a cemetery where she dug herself a little hole to hunker down in.

For the life of me I can not understand how anyone could just dump this little dog.  She is the most affectionate, sweet, funny, happy little dog.  She is very 'Beagle-lite' as we call it around here, meaning she's not constantly on the hunt for something,  not baying non-stop, and doing other Beagle-ish things like Joey was.  I like to say Joey went to Heaven, saw 'the light', and came back minus his evil ways in the form of Hailee.
It just boggles the mind how someone could not see this little dog for what she was... and instead saw her as Trash, saw her only for what she wasn't and dumped her.

Hailee Bugg

One Mans Trash....

You may also know that more recently I have started to dabble in rehabbing/recycling/UPCYCLING furniture.
The first item I 're-did'  was a piece that I bought cheap for my new home even while my husband wondered how it was possible I wanted this ugly, 70's faux colonial piece so badly.
When my husband brought a friend over to our old house just before the move to help move some large item or other, the friend remarked to my husband that the end of our driveway [which dumped out into a very busy corner] would be a perfect spot for my husband to set me up with a hot dog cart to make a little side income.  {Thanks Woody}
An hour later when friend came to the new house and saw the hutch I re-did, he revised the hot dog cart plan, telling my husband I should be re-doing and selling my furniture.  Taking one mans trash and making it into another mans treasure.  I call this endeavor 'Late Bloomers'.

THANKS WOODY!

10% of all sales of Late Bloomers items is donated to my local horse rescue to help them continue the great works they do.  
Every little bit helps.   Please spread the word.

To see the present items I have for sale, find Late Bloomers on Facebook

Adding the table I saved from the gutter and gave a new life for those visiting from Sassy Sites and wanting to see an actual piece of trash: