Meadowsweet Ranch

12/22/2025

How incredibly sad. I'm glad the driver wasn't injured. My heart goes out to the owners.

Pickup Truck Strikes Multiple Horses on Rural Kenosha County Roadway; Six Horses Killed

KENOSHA COUNTY, Wis. — Deputies with the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office responded to a motor vehicle crash involving a pickup truck and multiple horses in the roadway early Monday morning, resulting in the deaths of six horses.

The crash occurred on December 22, 2025, at approximately 4:14 a.m., near the intersection of County Trunk Highway WG and County Trunk Highway MB, along a dark, rural stretch of roadway.

According to investigators, a 67-year-old man from Antioch, Illinois, was traveling eastbound en route to work in Kenosha when his 2004 Ford F-350 pickup truck struck several horses that had entered the roadway. The driver was the sole occupant of the vehicle.

Despite significant vehicle damage and full airbag deployment, the driver was not injured. The pickup truck was later towed from the scene. Deputies reported no signs of impairment, and speed is not believed to have been a contributing factor.

Investigators determined the horses belonged to a nearby property owner and had escaped from a fenced enclosure prior to the collision. Five horses were pronounced deceased at the scene, while a sixth horse was later humanely euthanized by the owner due to the severity of its injuries.

The property involved houses approximately 28 horses across six stables. During the investigation, deputies located fence damage to one stable consistent with the animals’ escape. The horse owners used heavy equipment to remove the deceased animals from the roadway and will handle burial and disposal on their farm property.

The roadway was closed for approximately 90 minutes while deputies secured the scene, removed hazards, and ensured public safety. Citations related to animals at large remain pending, with further investigation scheduled to continue during daylight hours.

The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office thanked motorists for their patience during the closure and reminded drivers to exercise caution when traveling rural roadways, especially during nighttime and early-morning hours when visibility is limited.

Statement from Sheriff David Zoerner
“This was a tragic incident for everyone involved,” said David Zoerner. “We are grateful that the driver was not injured, and our thoughts are with the horse owners following this significant loss. Rural roadways can present unexpected hazards, especially in low-visibility conditions. Our deputies responded quickly to secure the scene and protect the public, and the investigation will continue to ensure all factors are appropriately addressed.”

12/21/2025

12/18/2025

12/08/2025

I know, I just shared one of these two the other day, but today I was closer and I'm just so happy to see Donato (the appy) playing. They were doing some catch me if you can right before I was able to get my phone out, glove off, button to film pushed, so this is a little long because I was hoping they'd do a little catch me if you can again.

12/07/2025

These two playing halter tag did my heart good. When Donato (the appaloosa) first came, he avoided the other horses and was pretty much a loner. He shared a paddock with Oliver for quite awhile and then I decided to open the gate between two paddocks and let them all be together. Still Donato didn't pay any attention to any of the others. Whenever one would get close he would just move away. I don't know why, but he's now the social butterfly of the group. I've seen him play with all but one of the six of them now.

12/06/2025

What an AWESOME horse!! What a great story.

There once was a little mare.
Not a champion racehorse.
Not a pedigreed star.
Just a 13 hand Jeju pony from Korea.
Barely taller than a middle schooler.

Her Korean name was probably Ah Chim Hai.
Flame of the Morning.
Born around 1948.
Unraced.
Unremarkable.
Unknown.

Until a teenage stable boy sold her for 250 dollars.
Money raised by Marines who skipped meals and pooled poker winnings.

Why did he sell her?
So he could buy prosthetic legs for his sister.
A landmine had taken both of hers.

That is how an ordinary little mare fell into the hands of the United States Marine Corps.

And now…
the story really begins.
🐴🔥

She was bought to haul 75 millimeter recoilless rifle shells.
Up to 200 pounds at a time.
Up mountains where trucks could not go.
Into mud and ice and artillery.

The Marines called her Reckless.
But the name did not warn them.
It prepared them.

Because she learned faster than any horse they had ever seen.
Flattening herself in ditches when she heard incoming rounds.
Bolting for bunkers.
Halting mid trail when artillery whistled overhead.

She even learned to make the trips alone.
Two to three miles without a handler.
Carrying ammo up.
Bringing wounded Marines back down.
Instinct guiding her through fire and fear.

One day she stepped over a mine tripwire that should have killed her.
The Marines said it was luck.
Others said it was something else.

And now… the battle that made her legend.
🇺🇸🔥

Outpost Vegas.
March 1953.
A hill soaked in blood.
A battle so brutal that veterans still refused to talk about it.

Reckless made 51 trips up and down that hill in a single day.
Over 35 miles of open fire.
Machine guns.
Mortars.
A world screaming around her.

She carried 386 rounds.
Almost all the ammo the platoon fired.

Shrapnel tore her flank.
Another hit her hind leg.
She bled.
She staggered.
But she never stopped.

The Marines said she saved them from being overrun.
They said no human could have done what she did.

She earned two Purple Hearts.
A Presidential Unit Citation.
And eventually… a battlefield promotion.
Then another.
Sergeant Reckless.
The only animal promoted twice to staff sergeant.

Life Magazine called her America’s greatest war horse.

But Marines said something even better.
“She was one of us.”

Now… you might think you know the rest.
But Paul Harvey would smile here.
Because there is more.
🐴😄

Reckless loved beer.
Cold Falstaff or Coors.
Straight from the can.
She crashed officers’ parties.
Stole poker chips.
Chewed ci******es.
And once trotted away with an entire cherry pie board and all.

She curled up in foxholes.
Nuzzled wounded soldiers.
Became therapy on four hooves in a war almost everyone forgot.

After the war she returned home a hero.
She received parades.
She drank at the Bohemian Club.
She retired at Camp Pendleton.
She had foals.
Veterans visited her for years.
Some cried into her mane.

She passed in 1968.
Buried with honor.
Still loved.
Still remembered.

Later researchers like Janet Barrett spent twenty years collecting the real stories.
Sixty Marines.
Declassified files.
Old photos that had never been seen.
Interviews from Korea.
And a truth even more powerful than the legend.

Reckless was not born heroic.
She chose it.
Every day she carried weight that should have broken her.
Yet she lifted spirits instead.

Now you know the rest of the story.
And maybe now you understand why a little mare from Korea has six national monuments.
Why Marines still say her name with pride.
Why her story refuses to fade.

If you want the whole truth in all its grit and grace, read Janet Barrett’s book They Called Her Reckless or Robin Hutton’s Sgt. Reckless.

And if this story touched you, save it, follow for more, and share it so the world remembers the horse who outran bullets and never left a Marine behind.

Trainrobberranch.Com

12/04/2025

Had to share this one. I should have counted how many times this little made his circuit :)

12/01/2025

In case you didn't know this :)

Icelandic horses arrived with Viking settlers and have remained genetically unchanged for a thousand years. Strict disease laws even ban used tack from abroad.

Their isolation preserved traits shaped by volcanic terrain and brutal winters, creating one of the purest bloodlines on Earth.

11/30/2025

Blanketing is not just about adding warmth. Horses heat themselves very differently than we do and understanding that helps us support them instead of accidentally making them colder.

Horses heat themselves from the inside out. Their digestive system ferments fibre all day which creates steady internal heat. Their winter coat traps this heat when the hair can lift and fluff, a process called piloerection. This creates a layer of warm air close to the skin and acts as the horse’s main insulation system.

A thin blanket can interrupt this system. It presses the coat flat which removes the natural insulation. If the blanket does not provide enough fill to replace what was lost the horse can become COLDER in a light layer than with no blanket at all.

Healthy horses are also built to stay dry where it matters. The outer coat can look wet while the skin stays warm and dry. That dry base is the insulation. When we put a blanket on and flatten the coat, the fill must replace that lost insulation.

Problems begin when moisture reaches the skin. Wetness at the base of the coat flattens the hair and stops the coat from trapping heat. This can happen in freezing rain, heavy wet snow, or when a horse sweats under an inappropriate blanket.

Checking the base of the coat tells you far more than looking at the surface. Slide your fingers down to the skin behind the shoulder and along the ribs. Dry and warm means the horse is coping well. Cool or damp means the horse has lost insulation and needs support.

Horses also show clear body language when they are cold. Look for tension through the neck, shorter and stiffer movement, standing tightly tucked, avoiding resting a hind leg, clustering in sheltered areas, a hunched topline, withdrawn social behaviour, and increased hay intake paired with tension. Shivering is a clear sign but it appears later in the discomfort curve.

Ears can give extra information but they are not reliable on their own. Cold ears with a relaxed body are normal, but cold ears paired with tension, stillness, or a cool or damp base of the coat can suggest the horse is losing heat. Always look at the whole picture instead of using one single check.

If you choose to blanket, pick a fill that REPLACES what you are removing. Sheets and very light layers often make horses colder in winter weather. A blanket that compresses the coat needs enough fill to replace the trapped warm air the coat would have created on its own.

Blanketing is a tool, not a default. Healthy adult horses with full winter coats often regulate extremely well on their own as long as they are dry, sheltered from strong wind, and have consistent access to forage. Horses who are clipped, older, thin, recovering, or living in harsh wind and wet conditions will likely need more support and blanketing. The individual horse always matters.

It would be easier if a single number worked for every horse. But in my own herd I have horses who stay comfortable naked in minus thirty and others who need three hundred and fifty grams (+) in that same weather. That range is normal. It is exactly why no one chart can ever work for every horse, and why watching the individual horse will always be more accurate than any temperature guide.

Thermoregulation is individual. Charts cannot tell you what your horse needs. Your horse can. Watch the body, check the skin, and blanket the individual in front of you.