I began Townsend’s Ranch in 2008 to provide a home for
abused, neglected, or unwanted equines.
Working through Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society, I have given forever
homes to a BLM Mustang named Honey and a retired racehorse and veterinarian school
“pincushion,” a Thoroughbred named Gus. Sammi, a darling donkey abandoned at a stable, has found her home here. Lastly, I
am fostering a 20-year-old Quarter Horse named Winkie, who is blind in one eye.
Once I decided to move to the country, I began looking for
my rescue ranch. I found a sweet country
cottage on 20 acres in a little town called Rockdale just northeast of Austin, Texas, and that is where I have
settled in. I live with Jake, my
Australian Shepherd:
And my Beagle (he’s actually a “Jack Beagle,” since there’s
Jack Russell in there somewhere!) Baxter: 
And three little pigs (Wilbur, Wilbur, and
Wilbur
. . . "SOME TERRIFIC PIGS!"):
And last, but not least, a fledgling flock of Rhode
Island Reds:
Oh . . . and deer, too:
I know you are thinking “A-w-w-w-w . . . how
cute.” Or. "How cool to have deer in your backyard!" But believe me, when the deer eat
the tops off the spinach you have so proudly nurtured in your kitchen
garden, you do NOT think it is cute!
So many people have asked me, "So, how do Jake and Baxter get along?" Baxter came with me from California to Texas, adopted from my dear friends Carole and Christopher, and was king of the household for two-and-a-half years. When I knew I was going to move to the country, one of the first things I did was to find an Aussie. I had longed for another of this wonderful canine breed ever since I was forced to give up my first, Watson: the dog that taught me how great dogs were. I never felt it was worth the return I got for giving him up. Well, I was fortunate to find just the dog for me at Madalay's Australian Shepherds. Jake (whose registered name is Madalay's Blues Brothers . . . get it?) is a beautiful blue merle with the most Aussie of the Aussie traits: loyalty, intelligence, and guardianship. Of course, he is dominant, so when I answer that question about Baxter and Jake, I just say "It's pretty much like the Cold War, and I'm Henry Kissinger:"
Missile Crisis!
Detente!
