The foal’s name was Sunny, his registered name Sunbrite Sunset. This photo was taken just before we met. The rest is history. Our history. Disclaimer: I’m not talking about death this time, but something much worse: technology. If you are just going to dismiss what I’m about to say because you think you are that … Read more
It’s springtime in the Rockies. The time change was last weekend, so I’m waking up at three am now, but there’s more light in the evening. I can see tiny bits of green if I bend over for a close look. Earlier this week we were out in shirtsleeves and now we’re halfway through a … Read more
No, I’m not dreaming of a career as a hand model. My hands have looked like an elderly mechanic’s since I was a Goldsmith in my 20s. Scars, big joints, and apparently, the drought here includes hand lotion. It’s just that they told me in the emergency room to keep an eye on my … Read more
“I owned horses for 20 years until divorce happened,” the reader said, asking me to write about it. “I think they are the only thing that kept me sane and leaving them was the hardest thing I have ever done.” The reader said it was literally a matter of life or death. I believe her … Read more
Seems every farm family had one in a generation; a distant misfit girl-cousin who read too much or wore men’s jeans or hated to cook. As soon as she could, she traveled away to Portland to work in a library or to Tucson to be an artist. The family only whispered her name then, kitchen … Read more
A better question is what is it about horses that hook us so deeply?
To be of a certain age and curious.
Six times his age.
The trouble with being stoic, like any stoic horse will tell you, is that you don’t have fewer feelings; you just try harder to hide them.
Pausing at Dusk
I’m doing something different today, in the spirit of Thanksgiving. When I started my blog, almost eight years ago now, I had a nebulous thought. It was inane, and simplistic, and lacked any kind of forward-thinking plan. And it was personal. I wanted to help horses, simply because they have helped me. You have … Read more
Yellow solstice to blue. I’ve lost
count of the seasons. Was that
the year of the big blizzard?
Or was it after the old gelding
retired? These are the thingsthat I do remember: The quality
of the air from the back of a horse.
Bittersweet light easing to dusk.
And a certain plain comfort that
there are chores to be done.