Relative Something

There is nothing more satisfying for me lately than seeing the horses looking thoroughly contented. We started their day yesterday by closing gates to confine them to the paddocks in advance of an appointment with a farrier. Being suddenly restricted from the acres of fresh green grass didn’t appear to bother them much.

I noticed two of them napping on the ground and decided to wander out and scoop up a couple of fresh deposits that had recently been dropped. While I was out there, Swings decided to lie down as well. Light stayed on her feet, but was doing her own version of snoozing in the warmth of the morning sunshine.

Before the farrier arrived, Cyndie and I showed up to put halters on the horses. Only Swings showed some initial resistance to the idea, but soon cooperated. What followed had me a little surprised. Our contact from This Old Horse, Maddy, arrived, and she joined Cyndie in grooming away the hair the horses were shedding. The fact that none of the horses objected to the intensity of attention was very uncharacteristic of them.

After a bushel of hair carpeted the ground, Cyndie began brushing out manes, using conditioner to detangle knots. While she worked, we moved one horse at a time to the other side of the overhang for the farrier, Jamie, to take care of their feet.

Light was first, because she doesn’t always stand well for the procedure. Jamie was wonderfully patient and completed all four hooves with only minor noncompliance. Cyndie brought Swings over last, arguably the easiest of the four.

We then opened the gates to the fields and gave the herd of old Thoroughbred mares full run of the place again. They calmly made their way out into the sea of green to graze. Out there on a sunny day, they are the picture of bliss.

When Asher and I showed up to serve the afternoon feed, three of them slowly made their way, one by one, back to the paddocks as I was getting things prepared. Swings chose to linger on the grass. I know enough now not to fret over their timing. I hung out all four buckets and took Asher back to the house for his dinner.

Opening the app to view our surveillance camera, I could see Swings munching away at one of the buckets while Mix was taking bites from a hay net, and Light and Mia stood by looking perfectly satiated.

Having these rescued horses accept all this attention and then appear so wonderfully satisfied is incredibly rewarding. They’ve come a long way from the stressed condition we witnessed when they first arrived here.

I’ve learned a lot from them about allowing time to pass for deep healing to emerge. The process of reclaiming their fully deserved equine health probably never really ends.

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