Anna Blake For us long-timers, if we’ve been lucky, it feels like we’re always standing in a ghost herd. They’re good company but they’re not looking over us so much as being ready if we forget and start to feel a little cocky about knowing much. Then one of the herd will push past and an airy … Read more
Our horses are not young, neither are we. We negotiate with winter, bartering against the wind that our horses might have shelter, might have this small farm to hold them. We’re hostage to them, more than they are to us. We make ourselves useful, driving to town to take jobs caring for others to … Read more
I have to credit a decent mid-life crisis for changing the course of my horse life. Not that I wanted to change; I had two great horses and we were livin’ the dream, competing like I’d wanted to my whole life, and having fun doing it. I had good friends at the boarding facility … Read more
As if struck by lightning, the horse died; a clean and horrible quiet. No diagnosis, no cure, no negotiation. The reluctant but permanent truth that no amount of flapping emotion can change. Held long in the instant of being cleaved in two, stripped bare in the flash of change. Not touching the dry ground … Read more
You started with horses the same way most of us were taught. You tried to show them who’s boss, not that you ever felt good about it. Maybe you eventually got fed up with fighting. Maybe you saw one too many frightened horses in the hands of aggressive riders. Maybe your horse let you … Read more
The mare stands square, extending her neck, surveying the pond marsh. Are the coyotes on the move? She takes three or four precise steps closer and holds, eyes alert for small movements out of rhythm. So aware of the earth’s language, without the dulling filter of floors and walls, she feels change by the shifting … Read more
Not long after I moved to the farm, a friend brought her two young kids out. We all walked the pens, petting and learning the names of llamas and goats. Were both boys younger than four? I saddled up my safest horse and climbed on. The horse was tall, and it was a hoist as … Read more
Centering myself behind the horse as he walks away, bent forward with my hands on my knees, staring his hips for unevenness. Listening to his footfalls. Knowing he isn’t quite right, I follow a few steps behind. He’s off but it doesn’t show every stride. The gelding knows I’m watching and the awareness changes his … Read more
“Egads, stand back! It’s spring and all those flighty chestnut Arabians are reactive nut cases. Afraid of everything. Downright dangerous. Whoa, now. Settle down, big fella!” Spring can be an unsettling time. Yes. I take blog requests and this is the big complaint. Really, year-round, but it’s especially fresh with post-hibernation hung-over indignation … Read more
One horse flicks his ear, still grazing, another pauses his jaw, his tail still amid flies. The mare lifts her head, intelligent brow above wide nostrils, while the elder gelding keeps his neck low, courting smells wafting on the breeze. A small movement in the distance, awareness passes through the herd, their breath in shallower … Read more