Random Friday

1.  We had a wonderful few days of cool, sweatshirt weather this week.  I teased Brett that I was going to have to fire up the wood stove.  We burrowed under blankets instead and last night we sighed sadly, as the weather has started to warm up again.  Next week, we will be back in the mid-90s.

2.  Our friend and neighbor, Marv, lost his battle with cancer a few weeks ago.  His wife is planning to move in with her father, who is 90-something and still living independently.  Marv's house, which is across the road from us, will be sold.  Patty offered us the spinning windmill from her garden, which had been a gift to her from a friend, and Brett moved it over this week.  He put it by the front gate, where we can see it spinning from the house, the road and the driveway.  It is right next to the boys' pasture but they don't mind it in the least.  I feel privileged to part of this windmill's history of being passed from friend to friend.

3.  I bought Tex a new fly mask.  The one that he has been using is short and does nothing to protect his nose from the hordes of flies that congregate there.  This morning, with a warmer day on tap, I introduced him to the new mask.  I eventually got it on, but it took me 40 minutes of work.  I didn't have time for my usual cup of coffee before hitting the road, and I was a bit late to work, but overall I'm pleased with how it went.  He is now wearing his new mask and he is okay with it; pleased with himself even - because in the end, he was a brave boy.

Wednesdays With Tex

Last week I read an article about a recent discovery that horses talk to us.
Duh.

Supposedly dogs and horses are the two animals that try to "talk" to us, using their language.  Dogs are pretty obvious about signaling their desires - dropping balls at our feet and rolling over onto their backs for belly rubs.  Horses have a more subtle language.  You have to listen closely and pay attention.  Some horses are very verbal.  Lucy tells me where and how she wants to be scratched, and when riding she lets me know if I'm too tense.

Jackson can relay to me the condition of his feet just by the way he looks at me in the mornings.  If he gives me a hard stare, without moving, they hurt.  Many of us have had the experience of walking out to see our horse and having them lift a foot that hurts and look at us with that "help me" look.

Which brings me to Tex.  He falls into the category of horses who have never been heard by humans, who have been bullied, and as a result have stopped trying to communicate.  When I stand with Tex in the pasture, I listen to him.  Initially, he didn't say much of anything other than "cookie, please."  Next he started watching me intently, I felt him inviting me to go to him and that invitation remained until I got a few feet away.  Then he shut down and backed away.  Lately, the invitation has remained open and I can enter his space and stand there with him.

I added another element to our conversation in the past week.  I'm asking him to tell me where he likes to be rubbed.  Is it your withers?  Or the front of your neck, maybe?  How about on your back?  He didn't say anything at first and then I noticed a slight wiggle in his lower lip when I rubbed below his wither.  We built on it the next day and he not only wiggled his lip, he turned his head and looked at me.  He looked pleased and a bit surprised that I understood.

He also let me rest my forehead against his neck for a nano second.  It's such a small thing but it meant the world to me.