I haven't gone out into the pasture much lately to share space with the horses.
This evening, after supper, they were hanging out by the gate, and I went out with the grooming box and brushed George for a little while. But I was tired, and the thought of just sitting and relaxing was more enticing. So I turned over a bucket and plonked myself down.
As a human, there's something about sitting that makes me calm. Horses can relax while standing; I relax better sitting. George came and parked himself beside me, the others gathered close by, and we just sat for about an hour.
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| Here we are. |
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| Bridget is sleepy. |
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| Rose is sleepy. |
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| Chloe is sleepy. |
George has a new thing. He puts his knee on my lap and rests it there. Don't know why.
Then it got dark, and I went in the house. Sometimes I wish I could sleep in the field. They would probably chew my pyjamas to ribbons and knock me out of my hammock. Still ....
Yep, I'm with you on sleeping in the field, June.
ReplyDeleteI think you might be George's person. I think he belongs to your daughter (right?), but he may think you belong to him. How charming he is.
George definitely thinks I belong to him. But he is very keen on my daughter - trouble is she's impatient with the "sharing space" thing, so unless she rides she doesn't spend much time with him. It's actually sort of pathetic the way he perks up and looks in her direction when he sees her. I don't really know how to get it across to her that she could build a whole new world of relationship with him if she would take time out to just be with him. I guess most 14 year olds wouldn't be all that thrilled by the idea of spending an hour sitting on a bucket. She's not the contemplative sort anyway. I guess I'll just concentrate on encouraging her to ride more.
ReplyDeletekeep designing in my mind a sort of deep shelf high up in the wall of a shelter or stable - high up enough that they could stick their noses in but not their feet. And deep enough that you could scoot deeper in if you got sick of being chewed. Maybe the wall could be connected to your own house, and you could get into your bed from your side of the wall. What to do about the flies? Oh, but flies don't like to go into where it's dark and shady, do they, so maybe if you made the shelter deep enough? My husband thinks I'm stark raving bonkers.
ReplyDeleteOoh, ooh, and I have another idea for a barn. Flies don't go high up - so 2nd floor porches are generally fly-free. You could build (well, when I say "you", I mean someone else, cos I just ain't that handy) a horse house, with a nice gentle non-slippery ramp leading to a 2nd story, where they could get away from the flies, and then your own house could open onto this second-floor area. Aha. Right. Win that lottery. Hmm maybe should start buying tickets.
ReplyDeleteAnd you could have lots of windows opening from that side of your house into the horse house. And the horse house would be very light and airy upstairs, so it would be pretty. And downstairs the human house would not have windows opening into the horse house. .And outside, you could have the human yard (some things are best kept away from horses, e.g. your nice potted plants - ahem, 'fess up - was it you, George, or was it Bridget?) and also a horse area, and then a communal area with extremely sturdy lawn furniture and preferably a babbling brook for all to enjoy. Snaps fingers - it all magically appears.
ReplyDeleteAnd we'll need a horse tornado shelter, as we've had two tornado warnings recently.
ReplyDeleteActually, I think I'd have to go with more of a Tudor model, open below, house above, staircase down, alcove and cistern in the middle of the open first floor for sitting and shnoozling with the horses. Perhaps built into the side of a hill so they could graze alongside the second-floor windows sometimes. All this matched with a royal stipend, of course.
ReplyDelete