Sunday, August 28, 2005, 19:39
A Piece of Paper Towel
The sky was blue, the sun was shining brightly and a strong wind blue out of the west on Saturday as Randy and I sat by our table of books at Discover Downsville Day in Downsville, Wisconsin.
For the entire time we had been sitting there, we'd been watching a team of horses going up and down the street, pulling a carriage to give rides to people who wanted to go for carriage rides.
Just as the matched team of dappled draft horses passed in front of us once again, a piece of paper towel blew across the street. The horse on the left, without even stopping to consider the situation, reared up, tried to bolt, and ran into his partner. Thank goodness the other horse remained calm. Crowds of people stood along the sidewalk, and if the team had bolted, I could envision people being run down by a terrified team dragging an overturned carriage behind them.
Unfortunately, the horse who had reared up and tried to bolt had gotten his leg over the crosspiece of the carriage, and as he stood there hopping around on three feet, he was becoming more and more upset, which was making his partner a little upset, too.
"We should try to help," I said to Randy.
"Yeah, maybe, but what can we do?" Randy asked.
Just then, a tall man stepped out of the crowd and took hold of the bridle. He obviously knew horses and knew what to do. The horses calmed down, and someone else was able to crawl in between the team and disentangle the horse who was hopping around on three. A tall man was just what the situation needed. If I had tried to hold the team, they probably would have run over me, but someone tall had enough "presence" to make the team feel calmer.
Once the crisis was over, another group of people came and helped an very elderly lady out of the carriage.
"Good idea," Randy said. "Get her out of there before something terrible happens."
After the elderly lady was standing safely on the sidewalk, the driver turned the team and headed back up the street. Someone else went out into the street and picked up the offending piece of paper towel.
"It just goes to show you," I said to Randy, "that anything can scare any horse at any time."
The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. Very uneventful. A few people wandered up and down the street visiting the food vendors and the dunk tank at the end of the street, but it wasn't enough to make it worthwhile for us to sit there with books for sale, so we packed up and went home.
In the evening, we again put the bridle on our new horses, Isabelle. The first time was Friday night. Randy hopped up on her Friday evening while I held the bridle. He did that a couple of times. Saturday evening, I hopped up on her back while Randy held the bridle.
I was told the horse was greenbroke, but I don't think she's even really greenbroke. She's not especially comfortable with idea of having a bit in her mouth and she doesn't know how to balance with weight on her back. A person hopping up on her back almost causes her to fall over. Horses that have been ridden a few times know how to balance with weight on their backs.
To her credit, Isabelle took it all in stride and didn't seem the least bit worried by two of us nearly upsetting her balance.
Even so, we've got a lot of work ahead of us before we can really start riding her.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Friday, August 26, 2005, 17:44
It's Raining!
Early this morning, the sky grew dark and thunder started to roll in from the west, so I hurried up and fed grain to the horses, made sure they both had water and gave them both some hay. Isabelle doesn't really need hay because she's got all kinds of grass in her pasture, but she enjoys eating a little hay, too. Kajun is only out in a small pasture, and he eats mostly hay. I can't put him in a bigger pasture during the summer, otherwise he might founder again, and his feet are sore enough already.
Anyway, once the horses were fed, I put the leash on Pixie and started out the driveway. I knew that if I did this, Charlie would come out from under the porch, where he had taken refuge when he heard it was thundering. Charlie either hangs out under the porch when it is storming or underneath my truck.
The dogs and I walked a little way down the road -- with lots of thunder rumbling overhead -- so Charlie could do any business he needed to do, then we headed back. I took the leash off Pixie, put her in the house, clipped the leash on Charlie, brought him in the house and let him down in the basement where I put him in his kennel.
Just after I put Charlie inside, it started to rain. For a while, lightning flashed, thunder cracked, and it poured. I don't know how much rain we got. It's still raining yet at 12:45 p.m. Kajun's pasture had standing water in it for a while, and it's on a slope, so that's really saying something -- although, now that I think about it, it might not be saying as much as I thought because the ground has been so hard and dry.
During those years when it rains three times a week, I get disgusted when I'm cooped up in the house because of an all-day rain.
Today, I don't mind a bit.
LeAnn R. Ralph