I sent you a variety of images of Gia (the blue and gold Macaw) as well as photos of our horses Kazazam (the dark brown Arabian), Deacon (the orange-brown quarter horse), including preacher (a black Tennessee walker) and Cash (brown, white, and black paint) whom we no longer have. I also included pictures of Sam (the white cockatiel) and Abby (our pit-bull). You by no means have to include all of the photos or even a photo of each animal, I just thought I would provide you with a variety.
Gia:
1) Blue and gold macaws exercise their vocal chords by screaming two hours each morning and two hours each evening: these screams range in volume but at top volume can be heard from over 2 miles away.
2) Blue and Gold macaws are extremely strong. They can break a broomstick with the same ease with witch an adult human can snap a toothpick. It would be equivalent to breaking a pencil for Gia to have snapped a human femur (the thickest blood producing bone in the body)
3) Gia loved to dance with the children and mimic voices. when the boys would fight she would scream "mama!' and after my parents separation she would mimic my mother's voice and call my father's name from the other room.
4) we often took Gia on walks with a leash and a pink harness around her torso
Sam:
1) Sam was rescued from an abusive home and proved as an example that animals can show symptoms of PTSD. In the photo she is perching on my father, the only man she would remotely tolerate. She would have frequent panic attacks, there is no other word for it, where she would vocalize and sound distressed, her breathing would become irregular, she would climb from my finger, up my arm, to my shoulder and behind my head to get away from men, all while flapping her wings violently, sometimes pecking at my ear and neck until I cradled her in my chest and spoke calmly to her and removed her from the room.
Cash:
1) Cash had a problem with randomly bucking, mostly with my dad. Once he rolled while I was riding him and I had to quickly jump off.
Deacon:
1) Deacon was Mr. Rutherford's prized cutting horse, when he stopped riding him Deacon became my mother's horse after she had fallen head over heels for him the second she saw him.
Preacher:
1) Preacher taught the other horses how to to take alfalfa cubes out of my pockets, a talent they then applied to my cell phone, anyone's keys, wallets, etc.
Kazaam:
1) Kazaam was the first horse my mother got in the US, only a few years ago, he is incredibly jumpy and also shows symptoms of PTSD (he also came from a troubled home). the first time he got his hooves trimmed when the farrier lifted his foot he jumped back and gained a cut on his rear end as long as my forearm and as deep as my hand.
Abby:
1) Pitt-bulls, though often incorrectly stereotyped as violent and dangerous, were originally bred and used as "nanny dogs" in Britain to take care of children, later their intensely strong muscles were used for dog fighting. Abby shows all of these "nanny dog" traits
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