After seeing the horse trailer in Tulsa going through the crowd of protesters it got me thinking about a few things. The first thing is that I don’t think that the average person know’s what I am hauling in my trailer and the second thing is what would I have done in that situation…
I know that the protester situation was something that is hopefully not something that happens more then this time but it is no doubt that every time you are hauling something down the road you are generally cut off at least once by an inpatient driver and sometimes we see stories of actual wrecks that are caused from drivers not paying attention to those hauling or give them the care that they can’t stop or move like a car that’s not pulling anything. Now when this happens I am extremely mad and upset but looking at it from a different view maybe they just don’t know what I have in my trailer and are so busy in their life that they don’t understand that we can’t stop on a dime.
So what do I have in my trailer? You are probably saying cows and horses duh….
But it goes much deeper then that.
When I have cows in my trailer I am hauling our paycheck. The paycheck that we get once a year. I’m hauling something that I have loved and prayed over its success from the time of setting it’s mom up to formulate the cells to make a baby calf until it is finally time for it to go on to a feed yard. I’m hauling something that I have gotten up before the sun to check on and stayed out way past my bedtime pulling a calf and making sure that the calf has gotten cleaned up and mom and calf are eating. I am hauling something that literally has my blood sweat and tears into it. Something that I depend on to make payments to do it all again the next year. When I am hauling cows I am hauling my livelihood.
When I have horses in my trailer I am hauling my dreams. I am hauling my best friend that has never said a word to me but has taught me so many lessons about life. I am hauling my hard work and dedication to a skill and a dream of the golden globe one day. I am hauling my passion that has hours and hours of practice and team work into it as well as lots of blood, sweat and tears. I am hauling my co-worker that helps me get things done at the ranch. I am hauling my adventure partner. I can’t count the many miles I have traveled with my little red horse but man the adventures that we have been on have been amazing and I am so thankful for all of the people and things I have gotten to do because of going down the road with that little red horse.
So to the average person passing a trailer they probably think that we just have cows or horses in the back but I hope that maybe they will read this and see that it’s not just a cow and a horse. It’s a livelihood, dreams, partners, friends, a lot of hard-work and passion back there.
I don’t think that I would consider myself to be the most courageous person but I do take the job of protecting my animals very serious. I know that I would not leave them in a super hot trailer because someone decided to block the road off. I would hope it would never come to that but knowing me when I get scared I tend to close my eyes and gun it so I guess I just hope that no-one blocks the road in front of me. I hope that I give drivers that cut me off a little grace that maybe they just don’t know what I’m hauling and if your someone hauling I hope that you inform those that might not know that when they see a trailer that it’s not just a cow or a horse and tell them, what the animals in your trailer mean to you, so that maybe when they are driving they will see it with a little more respect. I hope that if you don’t haul anything that maybe now you will be a little more mindful about what is in the trailer you just passed.
Ranch Wife Ramblings 