RabbitDad

Having an intense respect for animals, I'm here to learn from those who know far more than I do about rabbits. I'm quite new at this.
Our family lives on a remote ranch of almost 2,300 acres in N.E. Arizona. Between two Native American reservations. The few neighbors we have are the best I've ever known. Poverty on the reservations is widespread but that has little to no effect on the people. I haven't met one yet I didn't like.
I find it rather ironic that when the surrounding reservations were created, this was the "leftover" land that nobody wanted. The native population has kept it as pristine as it always was. My ancestors destroyed most of the state leaving this one of the best remaining areas in the S.W. We feel very fortunate to be here.
I've learned a great deal from our neighbors, their culture, respect for the land etc.
My best friend has been trying his best to teach me the Navajo language. So far, it's not going well.
With no city lights, the night sky is unobstructed. I haven't seen as many stars since I was a child. It's incredible.
We have 5 horses including a colt born here last November. 30 bison, 4 German Shepherds, two cats and 9 new rabbits.
All of our adult horses were rescued. 3 of which are first generation mustangs.
They were all in horrific condition when we adopted them. One had a very slim chance of surviving.
With constant attention and a few miracles from our vet they are all in perfect health, safe & I suspect happier than they have ever been. They deserve the best forever home we can provide.
Few things are better than sharing my morning coffee with my dogs & horses.
Actually my favorite horse gets his own cup of iced coffee because I'm done with him slobbering all over mine.
When he first arrived, he had been severely beaten, starved & neglected. He was absolutely terrified of humans. For good reason.
It took over an hour to get him out of the trailer!
Horses are extremely intelligent. Far more than most give them credit for.
Within just a few days he realized his days of being tortured were done and began to trust me. Since he was the leader, the others followed his example & slowly began trusting us too.
It didn't take long before he started doing this "happy dance" every time he'd see me each morning.
Because of that we named him Sundance. Eventually that morphed into The Kid or just Kid.
It's quite humbling to have a wild stallion come running when called.
He's the easiest horse I've ever tried to train. Seems as if he will do absolutely anything I ask of him. It's merely a matter of communicating what I want.
Now I'm using him to teach the other horses how things are done.
We have 2 stallions, 2 mares and the new colt.
I expected the males to fight but they respect their hierarchy. The colt however is "the problem child". He believes the world was put here for him to play with. Everything is on his terms and it's difficult to hold his attention.
The mares, Lizzy (a paint) is not a mustang. She's just a sweetheart and fully trained when we got her. Just her health was so bad she couldn't work / play for the first few months. Like Sundance, she enjoys making us happy.
Maggie, the mother of the colt has been relatively left alone as she was pregnant, then busy being a mom.
She will tolerate being groomed, have her feet trimmed & load & unload without issue. She's had a saddle on her but not ridden yet. Maybe this summer if we have time.
As for giving birth & being a mom, she did it 100% on her own! So proud of her!
I checked on them around midnight, all was well with no indication she was close to labor.
The next morning, around 6:00 am, my wife informed me we had an extra horse. He was already dry & walking around like a big horse! She must have given birth soon after I came inside.
Incredible, wish I could have been there for her but obviously she had it under control.
We had two buffaloes born last year. Shipped off two adults to keep our herd small enough to manage. They are doing fine as well.
As for me, I've had a pretty rough life. Working my butt off to get where we are. Granted I'm one of the luckiest people on the planet, even with making some bad decisions over the years, we are truly enjoying every single day now.
I'm supposed to be retired but getting the ranch going & maintaining it is more work than I ever imagined. But... it's more than worth it.
After graduating college, our son decided to ignore his degree and work here on the ranch. Taking full control when I'm gone.
Since this is one of just a handful of large ranches left here we hope it will remain in the family for many generations.
It would be a crime to subdivide & destroy the land.
Besides being absolutely perfect here, acreage is ridiculously inexpensive... averaging $300 / $400 per acre! I should keep that a secret.
Another extremely interesting topic is that very close to our house is the remains of an ancient Anasazi encampment / village. It's on the shore of a small lake. Each time we have heavy rains, pottery shards, tools and points are uncovered.
I've taken hundreds of photos of artifacts but since I have no formal knowledge of archeology, I'm forced to leave things as I find them. Technically I own everything here but morally I don't.
Still, it's quite fascinating to see the same landscape, the same stars, walk the same paths that this culture of many hundreds to thousands of years ago did.
I often think of their daily lives, their families, wonder about the dreams they had etc. Again, it's truly an honor to be here.
Once the workload is under control, I've considered the idea of a small summer camp for handicapped and/or underprivileged kids.
There is so much to see, learn and experience here that it would be a crime not to share it. If I could improve just one kid's life, it would make all the hard work pay off many times over.
My wife has a masters degree in child development so that would be right up her alley.