Saturday 24 March 2012

Question: do you think this horse looks happy?

Posted by Tania Kindersley.

Finally managed to rush up and see the mare. Oh, poor thing, I thought. I have not visited her all day. What a brute I am. Felt really quite angsty.

Got there, with the Pidge. Red looked up politely when I arrived, pricked her ears, gave me a courteous but perfunctory nod, and then went back to eating her hay. It was a bit like when you fuss over a teenager and they really don't get it. They shrug and grimace and say: yeah, well, whatever. It was as if she were thinking, better humour the old girl, and then she'll let me eat my tea in peace.

It made me laugh and laugh.

She is a horse, after all. As long as she has a sunny paddock to loaf in and some top quality hay, she will be happy as a clam. She is so relaxed now that it is as if she has been here always. A huge tractor roared down from the farm, and she did not even turn her head to look.

I sat on a little stone wall and watched her for a bit. She likes rearranging her hay into neat little piles and then eating delicately from the top. She was so dozy that at times she appeared to be eating and sleeping at the same time.

I think she has settled. Even the Pigeon seems to have come round to the idea. We are family now, and that is that.

24 March 2 01-01-2012

24 March 2 01-01-2011 3024x4032

24 March 5 01-01-2011 3024x4032

24 March 3 01-01-2011 3024x4032

These are her views, from the field:

24 March 6 01-01-2011 4032x1833

24 March 7 01-01-2011 4020x2300

24 March 7 01-01-2011 4032x3024

24 March 8 01-01-2011 4002x1500

24 March 8 01-01-2011 4032x3024

The Pigeon looked pretty happy with the arrangement:

24 March 10 01-01-2011 4032x3024

And, finally, finally – the return of The Hill:

24 March 20 01-01-2011 4020x2081

These pictures are dedicated to my friend Miss Whistle, who lost her glorious spotted dog yesterday. I send out an RIP for the lovely old gentleman.

I know all about that dog grief; the tear at the heart, the yearning sense of loss, the shock of the grief. Even when they are old and have had their time, the sense of rupture is startling. I remember the Duchess as if it were yesterday. She stays with me always.

Miss W lives six thousand miles from here, but she loves and knows Scotland, and loves horses too. So these are specially for her.

3 comments:

  1. Oh, the loveliness of Red with her nose buried in the hay!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very happy.

    Funny ~ we don't know how horses tell time. Maybe, now having settled in, she was just lazing along peacefully and hadn't realized that you were late on the day (by her reckoning, perhaps you were early for tomorrow). When you appeared, that was an extra piece of contentment falling into place.

    Bird

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is just what I wanted to read. I really do love your writing. I also want to send condolences to Miss Whistle on losing her dog, it is so very sad.

    ReplyDelete

Your comments give me great delight, so please do leave one.

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin