Appreciation

The mares and Cuffie put on a fun show on Friday. I posted a video of some of the mares being silly in the frisky mares post a couple of weeks ago. The antics we watched from then on Friday make the video in that post seem like nothing. Unfortunately I did not have my camera - ugh! Maisie was the instigator this time and she was WILD. Running and bucking around the pasture. The next one to join her was Cuff Links the pony. He started following Maisie running and bucking along with her. Well not really with her but behind her, Maisie is about 16.2 hands and Cuffie is a medium pony but his little legs were going as fast as they could!

MyLight, Lily and Harmony joined in next. The whole group would run and buck their way across the pasture. They would reach a fence line and stop and we would think they were done. But Maisie was full of herself for some reason and she would take off again after a few seconds and the rest would follow her. We knew something was really in the water when Missy joined in and ran along for a few strides and threw in a little buck. In the years Missy has been here I've seen her canter/gallop only a handful of times and I've NEVER seen her buck until Friday. After about 10 minutes, during which time I must have lamented my lack of a camera at least a 100 times, the finally settled down and went back to grazing.
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Late last week I was driving past the farm as I needed to run a few errands. There is a second driveway that is about a quarter of a mile past the main driveway. This driveway leads to the old farmhouse but the gate is always shut and padlocked so it is more of a driveway that doesn't go anywhere. The gate is set back about 80 feet off the road and occasionally people will pull into this driveway and hop out of their cars to take pictures of the horses. As I was driving past I noticed a car was pulled up to the gate but I didn't see anyone around. I pulled in behind it to make sure everything was ok and the car was not broken down.

As I walked up to the car the driver's window came down and I realized there was a lady in the car. She asked if she was blocking my way and I said no, that I was checking to make sure there wasn't a problem and that she wasn't having car trouble. She told me that she drove past the farm on a regular basis and decided to pull in and watch the horses for awhile. She said she had always meant to stop and admire the horses as she had been horse crazy since she was a kid but had never had much opportunity to be around them. She then said that one of her parents had passed away very recently and that just sitting in her car watching the horses was bringing more peace than anything else had in the last few days.

We talked for a few minutes and I explained that this was a retirement farm for horses. Then I pointed out some of the horses that were closer to us and told her their names and their backgrounds. She learned about Maisie, Lily, MyLight and Cuffie. She was so appreciative of the opportunity to just sit and watch the horses and learn a little bit about them. She kept thanking me over and over and I invited her to come back and horse watch whenever she was driving by.

It was a good reminder that sometimes the things we take for granted every day can be so meaningful to someone else. It was amazing how a few minutes of time with a complete stranger made such a difference as she quickly went from being on the verge of tears to animated and excited as we talked about the horses. When I originally pulled in behind her I was annoyed at taking the extra time to check on the car as I had a lot of errands to run. I ended up really enjoying my few minutes with her. Life is funny like that sometimes.

Leo and Tony

Hoffy, Baby and Trigger

Sebastian napping while Faune and Romeo hung out

Bonnie napping with Cinnamon, Sky and Lexi hanging out

Traveller and Sparky napping

Winston and Faune

Murphy

Dutch, Wiz and Clay

Boo, Fuzzy and Clay (and Bella the dog)

Justin and Murphy

Darby and Ogie

Maisie, MyLight and Harmony

MyLight, Maisie and Harmony

Fuzzy, Alex, B-Rad, Wiz, Murphy and Ogie (napping)