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Sunday, July 22, 2012

SOME GATEWAYS ARE SCAREY
 TO WALK THROUGH!

My neighbors have two new horses.

"DEE DEE" in the middle
and
"JUMPIN' JACK FLASH" on the right.
"TEASER" on the left is the
old man of the mountain,
somewhere pushing 20 years old,
(I'm trusting the girls to correct me with his actual age).

"TEASER" has a special place in my heart.
The big black gelding is gentle,
smart, calm and comes galloping up the hill
with his Tennessee Walker gait when I
call him every morning for "breakfast".

A few months after Eldon died,
Perro (his/my Blue Healer) and I trudged down
the hill to the Pine Tree beside the
spring creek to see if any wildflowers
had sprouted on the hillside
overlooking Eldon's
resting place, (ashes buried beneath the Pine Tree)

I brought along a rock.... Eldon loved rocks, shiny
black,
crystal
or what looked like flecks of gold!
Perro brought along his tennis ball ... all the way down the hill, he carried it in his mouth ....
it was his and Eldon's favorite game to play catch.
I don't stay long at the Pine Tree ... I don't
linger .... or chat .... or cry.
But I sigh.
"TEASER" and the girl's previous horse, "LITTLE MAN"  followed us down the hill
nibbling at a few sparce blades of grass
growing through melting snow drifts.
Time to climb back up the hill.
It's a steep, narrow path ...
well worn.
Wintry, chilly day ..
and a bit winded from the cold.
I stopped and put my hands on my knees and
breathed deeply to catch my breath.
"TEASER" walked up beside me and stopped.
I patted him and appreciated
how he seemed concerned.
(how do you
know a horse is concerned? I don't know... )
He just stood beside me.
As I began my trudge up the hill again
his long silky mane brushed against my shoulder.
I grabbed onto his mane and said,
"Okay, big guy, let's go."
He slowed his long gait to match my steps,
and literally brought me up to the top of the hill.
Once at the top, and I let go of his mane,
he trotted off to find a new clump of
fresh green grass.

But I digress!
This wasn't supposed to be about
"TEASER"
I want to tell you about
"JUMPIN' JACK FLASH"
who neither jumps nor flashes.
He's quite the mellow fellow.
Cautious,
slow to react,
third man on the (bottom of the )totem pole,
and would
NOT
walk under the archway leading into my
 front yard,
overflowing with clover and green, green grass!

He walked the fenceline, nibbling on 
dead grass .... stretching his neck over the fence
to reach as far as he could for a nibble of clover.
But he would NOT walk under the arch to come
into the yard
where "TEASER" and "DEE DEE" were performing their weekly gardening maintenance on the lawn.
I haven't had to mow my lawn all summer!


JUMPIN' JACK FLASH is a big horse
 and his leaning on the fence
caused two of the posts to bend! Can't have him
busting the fence!
I went to the barn and got a small pat of hay.
You know the saying,
"You can lead a horse to water ....... "
Well, you can tease a horse with hay.......


I scattered the hay just inside the archway.
Put your little hoof,
put your little hoof,
put your little hoof right THERE!


"Mmmmm," he seemed to say.
"What's this on the ground?"
Nibble .... nibble.... nibble.
With my foot, I scootched the hay a bit further
into the yard.


You're halfway there, JACK.
I don't call him
JUMPIN'
or
FLASH.
I call him JACK.




"Eat fast ... eat fast!" TEASER seemed
to whinny at DEE DEE. "One more
mouth to feed and this clover will be history!"

"HUH?
What have I been missing?"


"Why don't you just go back out
where you came from," I could of sworn I heard DEE DEE say.


Is there anything more serene
than watching a beautiful horse
mowing ..... I mean munching on clover!
 JACK  forgot about
the scary archway that kept him from
getting to "greener pastures".
He put his fears behind him
and took one little step ...
then another ....
then success!
His fear of the archway
long forgotten.


 JACK's  world suddenly became larger
as he expanded his horizons to the side yard,
the backyard,
and the garden.

People aren't much different when encountering
a scary "archway"
or "fence" that seems to be
standing in the way of
reaching a goal in life.
But, just as "JACK" needed only a little
encouragement from someone who
cared about him,
people get to be 
encouragers for someone
through a scary,
unknown,
difficult
decision in their life. 

Horses can teach us a lot
about compassion,
encouragement,
friendship
and
how to reach
that green pasture .... just a bit out of our reach.
.......................................
HEY!!! HEY, you guys ..... get out of my flower bed!!!!