Horse Resuce

This is Dr. Tessa.  When I first met Ethan, he doubted I could do big animal veterinary medicine.  He thought, as most men do, how could a little woman do the job of helping with a breech birth or getting a stick out of a cow's throat.  The man looked on the outside, but he quickly learned that my heart is a big as his and when he saw he deliver that breech foal, I made a believer of him.  Of course, most men are that way.  You have to show them.

I'm okay with that.  I showed him.

Lies will catch up with You

I am Tessa's mom, Joan Grant.  The title of the blog is a little misleading.  I never actively told Tessa a lie, but my silence was a lie.  I let her believe that man she knew as Dad was her biological father.  But when is a good time to tell your 8 year-old the man she knows as Dad isn't her biological dad?

My parents weren't understanding when I got pregnant in high school.  My father's reaction was he didn't want to be shamed by my behavior.  My mother went along with Dad.  It was my grandmother who came in and loved me though the pregnancy.  I thought my parents would come to love Tessa, but they could never unbend from their judgement.

I fell head over hills for a skinny kid who was in his senior  year in college.  He wanted to become a vet.  We dreamed together on how we could make a go of it.  When Vince won is scholarship to Purdue, I knew if he had a wife and baby he wouldn't go on to be a vet.  I couldn't do that to him, so I never told him.  If I could go back and do it all again, I would.  I would trust Vince enough to know he could be married, go to school and become a successful veterinarian.   Too back hindsight is 100%.

Dr. Vince Adams, The Vet

This is my first time to blog, but I guess you could say I got the ball rolling in Fresh-Start Ranch.  I'll back up a bit.  The last time I was kicked by one of the cows at McClure ranch, I wasn't fast enough to avoid the hoof and ended up with a big bruise.  Well, at my age, you move a littler slower and it took close to an hour with an ice pack on my leg to satisfy Lynda and Ken McClure at I was okay. (I think they were right.)

Well, I had to admit, I needed another partner.  A younger vet.  I tried hiring a few, but they didn't want to do big animal practice outside of Albuquerque.  I had a couple of vets substitute for me while I went back home to Kentucky to see my family, but those vets didn't stay.  The second guy had his car packed and notes on the table and when I showed up, he said goodbye and drove away.

 I got desperate and went to my old school, Purdue Veterinary School.  That's were I found Dr. Tessa Grant.  I knew she was a woman and she was only five feet tall, but I needed help and was will to give her a try.

She didn't disappoint.  The lady has a way with horses that can't be taught. And I not only got a partner, but I found my daughter and found a family.

Dr. Tessa's Time

Tessa here.  I guess I'll have to jump in and defend myself.  When Leann was writing my story, she know about my past, and I told her my passion for horses.  There was no other direction for me to go with my career.  When my step-dad (and at the time I didn't know he was) left my mom and me, my horse was my refuge.  When mom had to sell the ranch outside of Lexington, I made a deal with the new owners if I could board my horse there, I'd work for free.  They let me.  I was more cooperative with the writer than a certain cowboy I know.

Of course when I met Ethan, I knew I was going to have problems with him.  He didn't disappoint, but the grief was worth it.