Posts Tagged ‘fastidiousness’
Especially Content
It is hard to ignore the precision I employ in cleaning up beneath the horses when comparing the area around the barn overhang after a weekend of someone else taking care of things. My obsessiveness becomes much more obvious after I find how much manure is scattered in places I normally clean up but the “real” horse people disregard.
I’ve seen no clear evidence that the horses care either way, but I tend to believe they appreciate my fastidiousness. It’s kind of cute when they make a clear gesture of walking over to stand and poop where I am working. They can be so helpful that way. However, the fact that they so often step in the piles and kick them around every which way when I’m not there makes it seem like they might be sending me a different message.
It was really great to have a few days away from horse duty but the amount of pleasure I’m finding from being back with them again tells me I might be more attached to them than I was aware.
Oddly, I had a rather extreme dream where I was rubbing my face against Mix (like I do when wrestling with Asher) and found myself having a too-close encounter with her teeth.
No close encounters in real life yesterday while I was moving amongst the herd before bringing out their rations. They seemed especially content. Like they were happy to have us home.
The un-winter-like weather may have had something to do with that, too, I suppose.
Not much seems to fail when nature serves up its finest versions of non-threatening conditions.
I’m feeling especially content to be able to enjoy the horses while they are all getting along and radiating the ultimate in equine peacefulness. It’s a pretty special thing to return to after a weekend away.
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Well Kept
Keeping most things neat and tidy is one area where I am happy that Cyndie and I tend to agree. Overall, we strive to avoid allowing items to pile up around the property unnecessarily. If something can fit in the shop-garage, barn, or hay shed, it should get put away regularly. Brush piles should not exist indefinitely. That’s why we have a chipper!
Now if we would just get around to using it one of these days.
It’s interesting that we both independently agreed about allowing the knocked-over tree to remain in the paddock for a while after it fell. Likewise, that we each came to the same conclusion when it came time to remove it.
The old scratching post is now just a pile of cut-but-unsplit firewood.
While I was making the afternoon pass through the paddocks to scoop poop after serving up the horses’ feed pans yesterday, I felt a sense of satisfaction for the pristine confines we provide them. Cyndie and I are in firm agreement about regularly cleaning up manure from within the paddock fences.
We leave it where it lands out in the fields, but under the barn overhang and throughout the rest of the paddocks, we pick it up daily. It’s a way to reduce the throngs of flies that manure attracts but it also offers a level of respect to the horses that they get to live in a cleaner environment.
It makes the space more inviting for us to spend time communing with the herd there.
You know the old saying… cleanliness is totally loveliness!
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Relative Something 