Posted by Tania Kindersley.
A really hard work day. At five o’clock, my brain goes pop, as if a gasket or a fuse has blown. Normally I would go on until seven or eight, but that seems to be it for the day. I had all this tremendous horse stuff to tell you and now I hardly know what my name is. (I am certain you are quite devastated; I know that all you need on a rainy Monday is another twenty-seven paragraph horse story.)
Although I will tell you that she put up her sternest challenge today. Oh, she brought out her box of tricks. And there were people watching. ‘Don’t embarrass me in front of the watching people,’ I said in her ear. Ha, ha, ha, ha, went Red the Mare.
The really strange thing was I absolutely loved it. I have not had to concentrate so hard since the old queen died. And, again, we got there in the end. Today, achieving any kind of gentle forward motion involved a lot of circling. I had forgotten how much the circle is your friend. You can use it for everything – for getting her attention back, when she is being silly and not concentrating; for slowing her down, when she is going too fast; for getting her moving, if she plants her feet. A half ton horse will absolutely not move forward if it decides not to, however much you kick on. But it cannot resist a tight turn.
Besides the circling, my friend today was laughter. For some reason, I found it incredibly funny that she was putting me through it a bit. The really strange thing is that I take it as a compliment. I can damn well rise to the challenge, and I wonder if the mare knows that, somewhere in her old horsey mind. One of the things I love most in the Pigeon is that she makes me laugh. Now it turns out I also have a funny horse. I adore her. She is an absolute hoot.
And in other headline news: today is The Sister’s birthday. So it is happy birthday to the dearest, most beloved sibling, and to old Will Shakespeare too, with whom she shares the day. And now I must go and sit quietly whilst my brain shuts itself down.
Too shattered even for pictures. Here are a couple of my naughty, funny girls:
See that dopey, dozy, butter wouldn't melt in my mouth, blinky face? Don't be fooled for a moment.
A "who, me?!" if ever I saw one.
ReplyDeleteDoes Red have those two white = marks on both sides of her head above her eye(s) or are they on one & the photos are sometimes reversed (or whatever the "technical" term is!)?
ReplyDeletePigeon looks like she's very much on top of all this "monkey business"!
Happy Birthday to your sister! Today is also my younger Miami nephew's birthday (the incredible guitarist/ songwriter); I'll tell him he also shares it with Shakespeare.
XX Pat
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DeleteI have birthdaying sister also, just one day later, on 24 April. The pedant in me wants to point out that Shakespeare's b'day is unknown for sure but his baptism is recorded (26 April, if I recall aright) and his death was recorded (23 April in 1616) so out of a sense of neatness most biographical notes suggest 23 April as d-o-b as well, and it's now deep in the English Collective Unconscious as that's St George's Day.
DeleteThere goes the bell for break! Put your chairs under your desks, bring your books to the front, and leave quietly...
Don't RUN!
Two utterly gorgeous faces. That look like they could do no wrong.
ReplyDeleteA very Happy Birthday to your lovely sister, from my famiy of naughty, funny girls to yours. :)
My comments on your last two posts were eaten by the Internet. I can't remember what I said, but I always end up waiting for it to magically appear... practically peering around behind my computer screen. I think I'm too old for this.