Relative Something

Yesterday afternoon, Cyndie arrived home from her travels, and in short order amazing things were happening with our horses. After surviving all of Delilah’s exhilarated energy when she walked in the door, Cyndie said hello to the cats and then it was time to check on the horses.

We made an on-the-spot decision to take the horses, one at a time, for a little walk outside the paddocks. It wasn’t anything significant, just a walk for a short distance on the driveway. She offered the first opportunity to Legacy, but when he played hard to get, Hunter won the honor. Of course, that did get Legacy’s attention and he was more than cooperative about the chance to go second.

As always, the horses that are left behind put on quite a show of anxiety about a member of the herd being outside the fence, calling out with a neigh and running along the fence line. I think the horse that is out on the walk likes the attention coming from the rest of them. Cyndie said they were loving the freedom.

After Legacy’s walk, Cayenne stepped up to the halter Cyndie was offering. It was tricky getting her out through the gate alone, as both Legacy and Hunter suddenly showed extreme interest in getting back outside along with her, and they weren’t listening to commands of opposition. Cyndie succeeded in managing the three horses and one gate, and got it closed with Cayenne alone with us on the outside.

Cayenne was so attentive and present with Cyndie that we decided to reward her with a stroll farther up the driveway than we had gone with Hunter and Legacy. That really got the other three riled up and they burst out of the paddock through the gate we leave open to the big field. They haven’t been out in the big field much lately, because the snow has gotten pretty deep out there. The new incentive of their drive to follow us on the walk overrode any previous hesitations they had about the snow, and suddenly we were watching the mystical sight of 3 energized Arabian horses running together, almost in synchronization, at top speed uphill through the deep, undisturbed snow. It was electrifying.

It was a most spectacular and rewarding thing to witness. They really put on a majestic display of their power and beauty for us. I had never seen these horses work that hard before.

When Cyndie brought Cayenne back inside the paddock, the other horses were again crowding the gate area. As Cyndie was wrestling to get the halter off over Cayenne’s ears, it appeared that Legacy nipped at Cayenne, an unfair gesture as she was in a somewhat defenseless position at that point. Cyndie appreciated Cayenne’s discipline to maintain composure in the situation, granting Cyndie priority and allowing her to safely complete the removal of the harness.

As we set out their afternoon feed, Legacy came up for his, still breathing hard after the exciting run in the snowy field. I think Cyndie’s return probably made quite an impression on them yesterday.

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