R&R

Rest and relaxation are the words of the day. I spent some hours out looking for new blooms on seedlings which have all been water drenched from the daily rainfall. The paddock is a cess-pool of muck and mire. The horses were let into the back pasture which is blocked by the woods so they have been scarce except for the down time at the shed, where they snooze and flick off flies. I took Phebes out of the paddock today and clipped her to the tie ring in her stall. Brushing relieves stress. Itchy horse faces relieve stress. Scratching off that ucky black stuff on the udders relieves stress. Brushing the mane hair until it is wispy and floats on the breeze relieves stress. Kissing the soft muzzle right at the corner of the Pheber's mouth relieves stress. Running my hand down her neck, so smooth and slick relieves stress. She is so beautiful...and she likes me too...who'd a thunk?



Puddin' into the stall where we work on detangling the dreadlocks she gets by twirling her head at the other horses. Fingers nimbly working between the chunks of tangle, pulling, pulling, brushing free. My hand in the center of her forehead, that letting down sound that a peaceful horse makes. The older an arabian gets the more chisled the bones in their face become, she is so beautiful, so sensitive, she trusts me, and I love her.

Next is stinky boy blue roan (paint horse) Big Cree. Cree's mane hair is black, never gets more than six inches long (I swear there was an appaloosa in his gene pool somewhere), the texture is nappy and it is glossy. I untangle the tangles, and brush, and his mane gets glossier, and fluffy (unlike the girls silky manes). Cree most appreciates his itchy places being scratched, so I dig the brush underneath his jawline and he stretches his neck and squints his little eyes (they look appy too). Then the tail that drags the ground and is ultra thick and black (unlike any appaloosa I've seen)gets brushed out, and scratched on the bottom. Not sure Cree loves me, but he sure loves being brushed!

Have you ever noticed how every horse smells like a horse, but they all smell different? Cree smells spicey and earthy. Puddin smells like leather, wind, and rain. Phebes smells like a storm brewing. God I love horses. ~E.G.