Rescue Me

The horses are so bored, it is painful to go out to the barn each day when I feed them and try to explain again that I just cannot take them out of the barn and paddock area yet. 

Even though it is beautiful, the kids and I are hanging on to the last vestigials of our patience as snow melts each day but also continues to fall.

The snow is still deep and crunchy and the footing is unsure. I cannot judge the ground underneath the uneven snow. The path leading to my house is narrow and freezes at night.

To a horse sunning itself and shedding in the sun each day, this makes no sense. I look like a total lame-o.

Sometimes Dream will find any excuse to burst out of the in-and-out stall like it’s a starting gate (kids making noises with buckets, pitchforks, anything) and will run Ebony around the field. They roll in unison and Aislinn calls them "Reverse Appaloosas" because they are snow dusted with white spots.

At least the snow has melted to a point that the fences are at a dignified height. This summer, we have to add eighteen inches to the fencing along the horses’ winter area. In winter, the snow gets so deep on the hill of the paddock that the top wire of my fence eventually falls below Dreamport’s knees! He just stands and stares at the white wasteland over the fence and decides that crossing would bring him nothing, except further from the barn area.

I think the situation insults his royal bearing and takes advantage of his generous nature, two things which I do not want to do.

We need hay again, and today I have decided to write the children’s books that are on my list. We need hay a lot since this big Ferrari of the horse world with the speedy metabolism has moved in, and I’d like to earn some income to help out.

So I hope others are enjoying spring, whether it has actually come to your little corner of earth yet or not.

Ebony

Rescue Me, 1974

Native Dancer, Bull Lea, John P. Grier, Princequillo