A Day in May

It's been busy here the last couple of days, it always is in Spring. I've had a number of appointments to deal with and yesterday morning, Tessa was acting colicky.  I went out to the barn and found her lying down and she didn't want to get up.  It isn't unusual for her to be napping except that it was breakfast time.  Napping and breakfast do not coexist unless something is wrong.  I got her up and got her moving.  We walked up and down the driveway for half an hour with no results and Emma was getting upset so I decided to take Tessa out to the round pen instead.  Emma is more used to that so it doesn't bother her.  Tessa on the other hand, doesn't like leaving Emma, so it makes her a bit antsy, which I thought would be all the better.  An ansty horse always  has to go to the bathroom.  It worked, within 5  minutes I had the results I'd been hoping for and Tessa was feeling just fine:)  Since we were there and Tessa obviously needed to get some more exercise, I worked her in the pen for a few more minutes, got another pile and decided all would be well.

When we got back to the barn, I found that Emma had managed to get the feed room door open (because I was distracted and didn't lock it down completley) and had eaten Tessa's untouched breakfast.  Not exactly a huge crime since Tessa only gets two tablespoons of grain each day.  However, she also gets a full-sized-horse dose of selenium and vitamins.  I was worried that it would be too much selenium for Emma and spent the rest of the day watching both of them like a hawk.  Fortunatly, they are both fine today.  I do think I will skip Emma's selenium ration for the rest of the week though.

Riding Buddy and I went out for a ride this afternoon.  We had a nice ride, but Gabe is going through a testing phase.  He and Riding Buddy's mare have developed an intense love affair and he doeasn't want to leave her behind.  Once he does leave, he wants to get right back to her.  He wanted to do his own thing and ignore my cues so we spent most of the ride working through that.  We made progress, but I can see we need to spend more time at it.  It is all pretty typical of a young horse exploring and testing the boundries and the timing is classic.  He has settled into what he thinks is his new home and he is testing out the herd dynamics.  We'll work through it.  I just have to find enough time....

When things get hectic like this there is at least, the one quiet hour I always set aside to go walking with Tanner.  The woods are beautiful this time of year, so alive and vibrant.   A few days ago, we had one of my favorite kind of days.  It rained hard in the morning and was threatening more rain later.  I know it may sound dismal, but it's not.  The woods are so alive on a spring day like that.  The new leaves are such an irridesent shade of green that it seems like the light comes from them rather than the sky.   I have tried to capture that qualtiy of light in a photo, but it never works.  I am not sure it is possible.  Maybe a real photographer with a better camera could do it, but I have never seen a photo that quite gets it so I am not sure.   What I do know, is that it is a special kind of light that is rare and elusive.  Something that, in my mind I always think of as life-light.  And I know, that sounds kind of kooky, but it is how I think of it.  It is a thing that you can go out and be a part of, revel in, but you can't capture it.  I've tried, but it's not quite there...