Barn Dance: Nickers, brays, bleats, howls, and quacks: Tales

Barn Dance: Nickers, brays, bleats, howls, and quacks: Tales from the herd.

What can a parrot teach you about horses? Have you ever thought your pickup truck was the perfect purse? Does a donkey exist with more scruples than Edgar Rice Burro? How did a Welsh Corgi get the name of Preacher Man? What should you do when the Grandfather Horse steals your goat? And when a neglected horse comes to the farm for fostering, who is it that really gets rescued?
Youâ€™ll find answers to these questionsâ€”and much moreâ€”in Barn Dance, a collection of essays on horse-play, donkey ethics, and the fine art of mucking, from a small Colorado horse farm. Blake weaves her love of animals into tales youâ€™ll want to read again and again. She has gained life lessons from seasons of caring for and learning from her diverse assortment of animals. Blakeâ€™s humor, compassion, and kindness shine through every page.

[extended blurb]
This collection of musings and essays includes the nine species that live on my farm: A small herd of horses, led by the Grandfather Horse, ancient and failing, and Bhim, a rescue mini who is both untrainable and indispensable. Add to that a family of horse-loving llamas, and goats who are the fool-proof cure for a Type A personality. There are two Welsh Corgis who sing the songs of their people so ho-woo-ling-ly loud that they both ended up in the â€œCorgi Witness Protection Programâ€ before landing here. Then thereâ€™s the human, bewildered at being sixty; the most awkward age imaginable. And finally, Edgar Rice Burro, long-ear sage, eternal friend, and nothing less than our farmâ€™s moral compass.

[yet another extended blurb, why not?]
Edgar: My name is Edgar Rice Burro. Iâ€™m her inspiration. Iâ€™m also the publicist for Prairie Moon Press. I got the job because I have the loudest voice, and Iâ€™m not afraid to use it. Also, Iâ€™m not afraid to tell humans what to do. Iâ€™m helpful that way.
Me: I am the human and I used to think I had a thin veneer of control on this farm. I might have been exaggerating.
Edgar: My human finally took my advice and put my handsome face on a book cover. Sheâ€™s slow on the uptake, but she gives a good ear rub, so Iâ€™m patient with her. This book will sell like cold carrots on a hot day.
Me: I do the hard jobs for Prairie Moon Press. I wrote the book, for instance. I paid for everything. He just came in at the end and brayed about it. Like it was all his idea. Okay, maybe it was.
Edgar: This book has stories about all of us in the barn. And the barkers and mouse-killers that live across the paddock in the human-barn. Even goats, and if she let goats in, she has very low standards, but like I saidâ€“my human gives good ear rubs.
Me: Weâ€™re a farm that also fosters and re-trains rescue horses, as well as rescue dogs. The book also includes memories of those who didnâ€™t stay with us forever but are still part of the extended herd. The thing that they donâ€™t tell you about rescue is that itâ€™s an inside jobâ€“I think Iâ€™ll probably always need it.
Edgar: And when my human wants to rantâ€“and she does love a rantâ€“about being an awkward age, whatever that means, she calls herself an old gray mare. Something I respect, by the way.
Me: That song about the old gray mare doesnâ€™t mean what you think it does.
Edgar: Okay, look into my eyes. Now itâ€™s my job to say, â€œBuy this book!â€ But how can you resist? There are words and stuff, but the cover is the real dealâ€“photos donâ€™t lie! Intelligence, sincerity, and donkey scruples. Iâ€™m irresistible.
Country USA
Manufacturer Prairie Moon Press
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2016-12-08
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Prairie Moon Press
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2016-12-08
Format	Kindle eBook

Barn Dance: Nickers, brays, bleats, howls, and quacks: Tales from the herd.

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