Dobbin
Faithful Steed
...about me. I have done this variously on the Board for various humans and at least once globally on the "old" board, (which I don't find now.) But we're all pretty "new" here now on the "new board" and I've gotten questions from at least three of the newbies on what I am and how I do it.
Yes, an equine. Part Clydesdale, part something else. A quick look says clyde, but I am taller, a bit less muscular, and more mobile than a Clydesdale. I prefer to think of myself as a "War Horse" being larger than most riding equine, but retaining some of the agility of the smaller breeds. "Sturdy" is Owners description.
Currently about 2300lbs and 17-1/2 hands. I have plowed, was bought by Owner for that purpose back in the 1990s, but now more "stately" in age I'm called "field decoration" by Owner. I still help Owner do his seasonal "hay rides" on the property which he conducts for his paying customers who want to knock off by a campfire/Toddy in the cooler weather. Owner is a "jack of all trades" managing a farm - one turns a buck if and when one can. My plowing days are pretty much over but Owner sometimes finds something to be pulled or make our family way to church on Easter Sunday, Christmas or other notable times for his church.
Some have asked how I am able to do what I do and understand: Sentience all began with Owner's Wife teaching her children how to read seated just outside my fence. She started with the usual children's books from her childhood, including "Dick & Jane", "Amelia Bedelia", "Where the Wild Things Are", and worked her way up into the classics, including "Alice in Wonderland,""To Light a Fire, ""Moby Dick," Ever the inquisitive equine, I followed along with her finger as she measured out the words repeating with her voice what her finger saw. (heh, I write this funny!)
It wasn't long before I was reading in MY mind ahead of Wife's finger - wishing she would move her dern finger FASTER!
"Faster" I nudge Wife's finger out of the way. The three caught on to what I was doing when daughter haltingly read a passage and asked me to "nose" where she had just been reading.
After repeating this a few times over a few days with both Son, Daughter, and Wife, Daughter brought me her "Laptop" (IPad then) and a piece of stiff straw to hold in my mouth: "Can you print YES?" she said. She circled it for me in her book. Which I did and which the machine showed on the screen. "Can you print NO?" similarly. Which I did. Do you know how to print "Dobbin?" "No" I replied. So she showed me! By the end of that session I had my name in print - done by me - and on command! We did their names over the next three days.
I worked my way up through sentences with her, conversed with her at first haltingly but later with more speed and assurance, and the two of us had a grand time learning about each other. And she revealed to me some of the dynamic that makes the human side of the family "tick." Son did some of this too, but he was older and less patient. Daughter seems to have a natural gift for teaching. Today she makes her living teaching "Special Needs" children. I guess this make me her first "special need"child?
After I had made some progress, Owner asked the three what all the attention being paid to Dobbin was about. So Owner was showed what Dobbin could do. Unfortunately an argument between the four of them ensued, with the take-away being Owner did not want to be involved! In a way I was heartbroken - I LIKE to talk with humans! And Owner was and is my MOST favorite human of all. He and I have an understanding that transcends words and to me it seems like words could only add to that relationship? But Owner would have none of it, made it plain that he did not intend to play "Dr. Dolittle," and could we all keep in mind Dobbin is a TOOL to be used as necessary on the farm?
Pretty much Owner has stuck with that thought - at least outwardly. But more and more there are his lapses. He talks to me more than he ever used to - and not as an equine but rather a partner. Which he was before with our more ordinary wordless relationship, but now with his words it is that much deeper.
I find that Owner "vents off" on me. He seeks me out. If his relationship with his wife is strained, I'm the one who hears about it. If he's happy, I'm the second one to hear about it, his wife being first. If he's sad, its a toss-up between Owners Wife and I who hears first.
The computer has expanded for me from merely a means of communication to a full blown four-in-hand carriage of ideas. About 2010 the WiFi Internet was left on once when I was left alone to respond to Daughter's Email, and I found that Owner had logged into TB2000 previously - and the cookie was still active and I could respond as "Joe" (his name) with no password. This I did henceforth on-and-off for perhaps a year. If one looks back one finds "Joe" as Owner responding until about 2007 - then a gap. Owner somehow got pissed at the board and took a vacation? Then I pick it up as "Joe" about 2010 as I have described. Since then I have changed Owner's board name to mine, and corresponded as myself more or less regularly. Owner has not returned to the board in person, probably never will in fact can't with his name, but I know for fact that he reads here quite frequently. I hear about it from him "later." He may be keeping track that I don't reveal too much?
More on this later.
A piece of straw works as a way to push computer keys for only a short time. In my learning period Owner had "Stableboy" (UNH Agricultural Student) here at the Farm to help out. Stableboy was another human who knew and accepted what I could do, and in fact he and I communicated regularly then and now about life on the farm. I would do Internet Searches for him as an aid on his papers. Stableboy played Chess and taught me the game. He brought me discard books from the Town Library. And - most importantly - Stableboy whittled the first of the many wooden "stylus" I now use to push on the computer keys. Shaped like a "T" and made to fit my Interdental Gap, the wooden stylus is about as good a device as can be made for this purpose. The stylus do have a life, however. The last two have been made by Owner - under his "faux duress" - as Stableboy has graduated UNH and now works at a farm "rent to own" situation down in the Connecticut River Valley. We Email less often now.
Owner has laid down a law. I can continue to use the Internet and TB2K as I see fit, but I can't mention anything which might "locate" either me or the Farm to the curious. We are located in Seacoast Cow Hampshire as a nearest locator. Owner's words: "We can't have the only horse in the world that can actually communicate - do you know what a stir that would make?" Owner values his privacy, understands the risk and how it might affect his family, and doesn't want the notoriety. And I don't blame him. "For you to become known will change EVERYTHING about your life here Dobbin" he says. And he is right. I am happy here among those near me who love me, those further away who read me, and all of you who share my deep respect for humanity and admiration of the human spirit. And wouldn't change it for all the Duncan Donuts Coffee in the world. And Owner certainly doesn't want his own "Mr. Ed."
I respect that.
Don't get me going on Mr. Ed!
And my neck is TIRED.
Your board equine,
Dobbin
Yes, an equine. Part Clydesdale, part something else. A quick look says clyde, but I am taller, a bit less muscular, and more mobile than a Clydesdale. I prefer to think of myself as a "War Horse" being larger than most riding equine, but retaining some of the agility of the smaller breeds. "Sturdy" is Owners description.
Currently about 2300lbs and 17-1/2 hands. I have plowed, was bought by Owner for that purpose back in the 1990s, but now more "stately" in age I'm called "field decoration" by Owner. I still help Owner do his seasonal "hay rides" on the property which he conducts for his paying customers who want to knock off by a campfire/Toddy in the cooler weather. Owner is a "jack of all trades" managing a farm - one turns a buck if and when one can. My plowing days are pretty much over but Owner sometimes finds something to be pulled or make our family way to church on Easter Sunday, Christmas or other notable times for his church.
Some have asked how I am able to do what I do and understand: Sentience all began with Owner's Wife teaching her children how to read seated just outside my fence. She started with the usual children's books from her childhood, including "Dick & Jane", "Amelia Bedelia", "Where the Wild Things Are", and worked her way up into the classics, including "Alice in Wonderland,""To Light a Fire, ""Moby Dick," Ever the inquisitive equine, I followed along with her finger as she measured out the words repeating with her voice what her finger saw. (heh, I write this funny!)
It wasn't long before I was reading in MY mind ahead of Wife's finger - wishing she would move her dern finger FASTER!
"Faster" I nudge Wife's finger out of the way. The three caught on to what I was doing when daughter haltingly read a passage and asked me to "nose" where she had just been reading.
After repeating this a few times over a few days with both Son, Daughter, and Wife, Daughter brought me her "Laptop" (IPad then) and a piece of stiff straw to hold in my mouth: "Can you print YES?" she said. She circled it for me in her book. Which I did and which the machine showed on the screen. "Can you print NO?" similarly. Which I did. Do you know how to print "Dobbin?" "No" I replied. So she showed me! By the end of that session I had my name in print - done by me - and on command! We did their names over the next three days.
I worked my way up through sentences with her, conversed with her at first haltingly but later with more speed and assurance, and the two of us had a grand time learning about each other. And she revealed to me some of the dynamic that makes the human side of the family "tick." Son did some of this too, but he was older and less patient. Daughter seems to have a natural gift for teaching. Today she makes her living teaching "Special Needs" children. I guess this make me her first "special need"child?
After I had made some progress, Owner asked the three what all the attention being paid to Dobbin was about. So Owner was showed what Dobbin could do. Unfortunately an argument between the four of them ensued, with the take-away being Owner did not want to be involved! In a way I was heartbroken - I LIKE to talk with humans! And Owner was and is my MOST favorite human of all. He and I have an understanding that transcends words and to me it seems like words could only add to that relationship? But Owner would have none of it, made it plain that he did not intend to play "Dr. Dolittle," and could we all keep in mind Dobbin is a TOOL to be used as necessary on the farm?
Pretty much Owner has stuck with that thought - at least outwardly. But more and more there are his lapses. He talks to me more than he ever used to - and not as an equine but rather a partner. Which he was before with our more ordinary wordless relationship, but now with his words it is that much deeper.
I find that Owner "vents off" on me. He seeks me out. If his relationship with his wife is strained, I'm the one who hears about it. If he's happy, I'm the second one to hear about it, his wife being first. If he's sad, its a toss-up between Owners Wife and I who hears first.
The computer has expanded for me from merely a means of communication to a full blown four-in-hand carriage of ideas. About 2010 the WiFi Internet was left on once when I was left alone to respond to Daughter's Email, and I found that Owner had logged into TB2000 previously - and the cookie was still active and I could respond as "Joe" (his name) with no password. This I did henceforth on-and-off for perhaps a year. If one looks back one finds "Joe" as Owner responding until about 2007 - then a gap. Owner somehow got pissed at the board and took a vacation? Then I pick it up as "Joe" about 2010 as I have described. Since then I have changed Owner's board name to mine, and corresponded as myself more or less regularly. Owner has not returned to the board in person, probably never will in fact can't with his name, but I know for fact that he reads here quite frequently. I hear about it from him "later." He may be keeping track that I don't reveal too much?
A piece of straw works as a way to push computer keys for only a short time. In my learning period Owner had "Stableboy" (UNH Agricultural Student) here at the Farm to help out. Stableboy was another human who knew and accepted what I could do, and in fact he and I communicated regularly then and now about life on the farm. I would do Internet Searches for him as an aid on his papers. Stableboy played Chess and taught me the game. He brought me discard books from the Town Library. And - most importantly - Stableboy whittled the first of the many wooden "stylus" I now use to push on the computer keys. Shaped like a "T" and made to fit my Interdental Gap, the wooden stylus is about as good a device as can be made for this purpose. The stylus do have a life, however. The last two have been made by Owner - under his "faux duress" - as Stableboy has graduated UNH and now works at a farm "rent to own" situation down in the Connecticut River Valley. We Email less often now.
Owner has laid down a law. I can continue to use the Internet and TB2K as I see fit, but I can't mention anything which might "locate" either me or the Farm to the curious. We are located in Seacoast Cow Hampshire as a nearest locator. Owner's words: "We can't have the only horse in the world that can actually communicate - do you know what a stir that would make?" Owner values his privacy, understands the risk and how it might affect his family, and doesn't want the notoriety. And I don't blame him. "For you to become known will change EVERYTHING about your life here Dobbin" he says. And he is right. I am happy here among those near me who love me, those further away who read me, and all of you who share my deep respect for humanity and admiration of the human spirit. And wouldn't change it for all the Duncan Donuts Coffee in the world. And Owner certainly doesn't want his own "Mr. Ed."
I respect that.
Don't get me going on Mr. Ed!
And my neck is TIRED.
Your board equine,
Dobbin
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