Horses, an Update

Dante: peaceful, confident, and bored. He's not being ridden enough.

Jack: happy, enjoying Memphis's company. But I've noticed in the last couple of days he has become a bit more independent. Still likes to come up and stand near me, waiting for his scratches. I love his tenor voice.

Memphis: followed me around the paddock today while I was trying to catch Rocket. She very nearly stuck her head right into the halter that I was carrying over my arm. That girl needs a job! She did very well pulling the cart the last time we had her in it. We really need to get her a good harness. But anyway, I think I'm going to have to ride her more, or at least bring her along when I'm riding other horses. I have never met a horse who baked as hard as she does to be worked. What a wonderful pony!

Cocoa: it's tricky to get on him. It can also be tricky after you're on him. He can't yet be mounted without somebody holding his head while his rider gets on. Even then, he needs a lot of warning and a lot of instruction so that he feels like he's being asked to do a specific thing (stand still) while something very predictable happens (somebody gets on his back). This is such an improvement over what he was like a year ago that I'm not complaining. As always, his emotions are the most important thing to control. He needs to be calmed and soothed before he is safe to mount. It also helps to free longe him long enough to let him get his oats worked off a bit. I like to ride him because he is so smooth.this picture is of him meeting the cow for the first time.

Ed: yesterday I looked at him and the first word into my head was NOT "ribs." He's gaining weight. Kordell put shoes on him to hold his hopes table while his abscesses work their way down. I want to write him but it was just too miserable out today. It certainly won't do him any harm to go a little longer without being ridden, but I would like to understand him better and having him under saddle is really the next step for that. He is so sweet.

Meg: she has not limped since right after the last time I rode her. Van is hoping that we can work with her to smooth out her gaits so that she can be a good endurance horse. He does not like the idea of selling her and finding another horse for endurance. He also doesn't like the idea of having two horses. We don't need t

o make that decision right away. Meg's attitude is very good 

for endurance riding. She just loves to be out on the trail. But I'm not sure that she can physically handle it without hurting herself. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure that Van can handle it without hurting himself unless he spend

s more time in Vermont and is able to work out and ride every day. But anyway, I really get a kick out of make. Her attitude is a riot. The last time I met somebody like her I was sitting in my seventh grade class.

The cow: I really hate to notice that he's cute. He's supposed to be next year 's meat. I would never admit this to my children, but it does bother me to be friendly to animal that will end up going into the freezer. But he is so cute it's hard to resist.

In other news, Mikey wants a little gray kitten. A specific little gray kitten that belongs to his friend Colin. He is quite reasonable about asking for this kitten -- only mentions it a

bout once every 10 seconds or so.

Danny has been tired. His nose has been clogged up and I don't think he's sleeping through the night although he doesn't remember waking up. I see him start to wake up to breathe through his mouth and this is happening a lot each night. Being tired changes Danny's personality from open and loving to fragile and prone to meltdowns.

Cordell brought home a new Australian saddle yesterday. We tried it on Rocket this afternoon but it is too big for him. I think it will probably fit Cocoa. Cordell wants Cocoa to be his horse. Well, it may work out sometime to be that way. They would make a nice pair. It would be especially good for Cocoa because I think Cordell would work with him and tolerate his need to learn things slowly.

And Van, whom I miss constantly. The world in Atlanta reaches out and pulls him in like he's

 drowning in some kind of soft pillow. Everything up here in Vermont starts to seem distant to him, although he hates the idea of missing anything. When he comes back, it will all fit perfectly again, but right now he feels very far away to me and I wish, wish he was here.