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Rosemont Isn’t So Rosy

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We’re on the road. I don’t have my shiny things about me my crappy old library at hand, so what follows will be light on historical detail, for now.

This morning, we headed down I55 South toward the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Our plan was to make it past Jackson, and then pick our way on back roads to the coast. Plans change. We decided to visit the Mississippi “frontier.” Recall the old Maverick theme song, “Natchez to New Orleans.”

Riverboat, ring your bell,
Fare thee well, Annabel.
Luck is the lady that he loves the best.
Natchez to New Orleans
Livin on jacks and queens
Maverick is a legend of the west.

Riverboat, ring your bell,
Fare thee well, Annabel.
Luck is the lady that he loves the best.
Natchez to New Orleans
Livin on jacks and queens
Maverick is a legend of the west.
Maverick is a legend of the west.

Neither Mr. Big Food nor I had ever given any consideration to the Mississippi Frontier. 

 
So North of Jackson we picked up the Trace– The Natchez Trace– and headed to Natchez. Not to go to Natchez, but to have a look see what was south west of Natchez. (By the way, it’s Louisiana– and yes, Mississippi & Louisiana have CC reciprocity. We pay attention to such things.)
Blah Blah. Insert some reflections on what widening a highway does to local culture. Blah Blah. 
We found ourselves at Rosemont, boy hood home of Jefferson Davis, first and only President of The Confederate States. 
 
Yes. 14 years on we are still having fun.
 
What the heck? It was early in the day. Let’s drive up the drive.
 
Mr. Big Food commented that the place could use some bush hogging, and in fact there was someone bush hogging. I thought the road could use some work.
Okay. Fair Enough. They didn’t have bush hogs in the 19th century.
They had horsies in the 19th century.
Well. If that’s your attitude, no wonder there was no on in the parking lot but us.
Anyone who knows anything about dirt roads in Mississippi knows that that road leading up to Rosemont is not well traveled. No one is beating down a path to see Jeff Davis’ boyhood home. 
The Visitor Center. Buy your Tour Tickets HERE.
There is a gazebo where you can learn all about Jeff.

Mr. Big Food and I opted to not disturb the non-existent Rosemont gatekeepers and just move along.
 
I don’t know anything about horses.
But I don’t think this horse looks well. Again, I don’t know anything about horses, but I know about rats, and dogs and humans. I can extrapolate.
It’s disturbing that I can see clearly so much of this animal’s skeletal structure. Look at those back legs. Look at the hollowness between the lower ribs and back legs. There’s no back up energy reserve to support running. 
Suek. Am I wrong?

3 Responses

  1. Suek would like to see more weight on her – but she’s actually not in bad condition. His ribs are visible, but not prominent. Her hindquarters are well filled – but that dip at the base of her neck is a bit troubling – though that could just be poor conformation and incorrect work. Her hind leg conformation is not so good – way too straight in the fetlock (ankle to you non-horse people) and out behind herself (drop an imaginary line down the point of the buttocks to the ground – the hind cannon bone would be behind that line. Not good). The hollowness between the back ribs and the hindquarters is also notable – but I’d probably want to know how far she has to walk to water. There’s not much grass on the ground, it looks like.
    I’d want to know how old she was and what kind of work she was doing. My guess is that she’s an older horse. Like old people, sometimes old horses get to looking not so good. Even with food in front of them, they don’t eat.

    I have one like that myself – he’s 30 this year. The last couple of days, he’s looked sucked up – and I don’t know why. He has food and water all the time…so what’s going on? what’s changed? I don’t know. I know one day I’ll go down and find him gone…but other than the sucked up look and ribs starting to show … no other symptoms. So far.

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