Posts Tagged ‘horses’
Horse Fix
I’d been waiting over a week since Cyndie got home to have her take me out to visit the horses of her friend. We finally found a chance on Saturday. It was a real treat to witness her interact with the animals again, and very special to see how the horses responded to her presence.
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It was a relatively sunny day for the period of our visit, and, unfortunately, I was forced to shoot into the sun for most of my photos of the horses. I caught one shot of Cyndie in the sunlight, just entering the paddock to see if the horses would cross the distance for some attention.
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Ever so slowly, the horses began to make their way over toward us.
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At about this moment, I realized that the horses, after very methodically making their way across the field, moving with guarded purpose, now were politely lined up to take turns interacting with Cyndie. It was really sweet.
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Last Days
I must admit, I can be oblivious to a lot of things, but last night when I was helping Cyndie load some things into the pod to be shipped to Boston, I saw stuff I didn’t recognize ever seeing in our house before. Where have I been for the last 20+ years that we’ve lived here? At least I don’t have any reason to worry that I might miss the stuff she is taking.
It is pretty much common knowledge that moving from one house to another is a great way to assess your level of clutterness, and a really effective incentive for uncluttering. We have been in one place long enough to have allowed a lot of unnecessary stuff to accumulate. It wasn’t that long ago that we ordered a dumpster to unload boxes and boxes of paperwork that Cyndie had been storing from her college years. In addition to having become pretty outdated, some of that was beginning to show signs of unhealthy growth.
Today, you can’t even tell where all those boxes came from. There is no big open area in our crawl space where the boxes had been. New accumulation has somehow migrated into that spot such that we could probably do with another dumpster about now.
Since Cyndie is officially starting her new position on Monday, I think it is safe to announce the job she has accepted. It has been a drawn out process, and I was waiting for the possibility of an official announcement from the Boston school district. She has signed a contract for the position of Chief Academic Officer of Boston Public Schools. I reckon she will be one busy worker bee out there, and our separate residences will end up being a non-issue. It’s not like she will be lounging around her apartment all day, every day, feeling lonely. More likely, especially based on her usual mode of operation, she will be working 18-hour days and barely pausing long enough to get a too-short night’s sleep.
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- photo by Cyndie Hays
On an unrelated horse note… we learned yesterday that one of the horses Cyndie has been spending time with, one which told Cyndie he was going to die soon, did just that yesterday. Goliath had told Cyndie that he needed her to tell the owner this news, to give her warning of what was to come. Cyndie wasn’t quite sure about this, but he was insistent that she tell. Cyndie was seated in her wheel chair at the time, and snapped this photo of him as he was giving her a look of urgency that this was the time to break the news.
Fully Conscious
Yesterday afternoon, Cyndie took me along on a visit to the stables where she has been helping a friend look after horses. It was an absolutely beautiful autumn day that defied the month of October with temperatures in the 80s. The unseasonable heat seemed to put the horses in a bit of an ornery mood. The dryness of the fall minimizes the amount of green turf available for grazing, so they have plenty of excuse to feel ornery.
I quickly became reminded of my limited experience around horses, especially groups of them. Our visit served to be a very clear demonstration for me of the simple lesson that is the cornerstone of the process Cyndie is learning: being fully conscious of yourself when interacting with horses, and being fully aware of the present moment. Horses are not satisfied with anything less.
I was describing to Cyndie how awkward I felt, trying to temper my normal quirkiness. I tend to react spontaneously, often with quick movements. I even used the word, “unconscious” to describe my usual mode of behavior. I didn’t want to startle the horses, so I had to control my urge to make unintentional movements. It is a great exercise for me, both mentally and physically.
We tossed out some hay and filled water troughs. Then Cyndie moved two horses out of the hot sun and into the coolness of the stable. Twice I witnessed how the animals approach Cyndie and make themselves heard. She said one horse was angry there wasn’t anything to eat. Even I could read his message. His direct approach. The way he stomped his feet. He was definitely telling her how he felt.
The second time was just as we were getting back in the car to leave. A horse made a very obvious and deliberate effort to hustle up to the fence by the car. I asked Cyndie if he wanted to tell her something. She walked over to the fence. I saw Cyndie bend over and look at his legs. It was quite something to witness, because it really did look like a conversation. And then, as soon as it was clear she got the message, he headed off to whatever he was doing before, leaving her standing alone at the fence.
Cyndie said that he had a sore on his leg. I asked how she knew to look at his leg and she said, “Because he showed it to me. He pointed at it with his other foot.” I don’t know what I was looking at, but I missed that message altogether. It did look very much like a conversation, as a whole, however.
Her stint in Boston is going to feel like a very long time to me, I think.
