Unsettled in-between days, a musty fog
slows the sunrise, flannel jacket zipped-up
for early chores. The chill is a relief from
the flies, made slow and mean by the cold.
Hours later in midday sun, they bite for
blood, the horses frantic, shaking heads,
stomping hooves. What fly-spray can’t touch,
the frost will kill any night now. Heat and
flies are both short-timers, as winter tests
the ground. Late evenings under the crisp sky,
air too clean in the nostril, gone out again
to check horses, their acid-sour discomfort
visible in their tense flank muscles, reluctant
to eat, their gut sounds muted as the dark wind
mutters a creaky barn draft, the barometer
fluttering with the shifting tilt of the earth.
…
Anna Blake at Infinity Farm
Horse Advocate, Author, Clinician, Equine Pro
…
Consider my latest book, Horse Prayers, Poems from the Prairie.
Available from Amazon here and signed copies from me here.Â
Beautiful.
Thank you, Caroline.
Always surprised by the abrupt temperature change! Gone from 80s down to 49 yesterday morning. Of course, today its pouring & chilly. BUT Suzy (dog) who has been reluctant to move in the heat – for our walks = NOW is perky & trotting most of the way. We get our best exercise when its colder!! Actually, worked that way with Chico(horse) too.
Power out about 4AM but the generator works like a charm – automatically – unlike the old one that my son would have to drive over here & start after doing the same thing at his place. The weather, it is achanging!
A kind winter to you and Suzy!
Fingers crossed no colic arrives. Here too it’s the change of seasons, but coming into summer after a dry winter.
The bad side of both spring and fall…. 🙂
I too am rather irritable with these relentless flies and lingering daytime heat. But we are having some nice cool evenings and beautiful foggy mornings. =-) Deb
Amen, fall is the bittersweet season.