Tuesday, April 25, 2006

The unique world of the horse mind



Okay, some who read my posts know that we are the proud owners of 2 horses, one a retired thoroughbred 18yrs young whose tatooed lip is too faded to read completely. Anyway, Quinn is my favorite of the two, probably because he is a lot like me, stubborn but loyal, hardheaded but a really nice-hearted fella. Anyway, I usually do not get too attached to pets but I have made an exception with Quinn. Well this past Sunday my daughter decided at 6:30pm it was time to ride Finn, her quarterhorse jumper, just for a short hack in the pasture and she would like me to put Quinn in his stall because he "follows me around". Anyway, being the ever obliging groom I tossed Quinn in his stall (with a little sweet feed) and after an hour I knew he would be ready to get out of there so we put Finn in the grooming stall in crossties to untack and I opened Quinn's stall and turned him back out. Now usually he would maybe canter to the back corner of the pasture and turn and give us a stare and return to grazing at the most reminding us not to put him in his stall, that he's a horse meant to run free. Anyway, Sunday was different. He promptly shot around the perimeter of our pasture (1/4 mile) at a flat out gallop barely cutting the corners and promptly make 8 laps or almost 2 miles! It was amazing! We had seen him gallop and play before but nothing like this. I ran and got a little video on my digital camera but it was dusk and the quality is pretty hazy but the memory is burned in my mind. The neighbors were out and remarked it looked like we had wound him up like a toy. We all stood there in awe of the power and grace of our 18yr old gelding....and me with thoughts of how to get this fella back to the track if for nothing else but the made for tv movie! I gotta say, I love the thoroughbred.

No comments: