It's Christmas day.
After opening gifts at the crack of dawn, a hearty Christmas breakfast, and a few hours spent cleaning up while the kids play with their new gadgets, I head to the barn around 1:00.
Today, I decide, I am going to let Jaliska just run around the indoor.
I get to her stall and of course she is delighted to see me. After telling her she is “the most beautiful horse in the world,” I hand her a Christmas apple. She is thrilled with my humble offering.
After a good morning pat, I strip off her heavy winter blanket and neck attachment, leaving her light wool under-blanket intact. I pick her hooves, brush her mane and tail.
We head to the indoor. After closing the sliding doors, I take off her lead rope and let her go. She races around the interior like Secretariat. Head held high, nostrils flared, tail arched. She looks like a champion.
I let her canter, prance and trot around for a good bit and once she has settled down, I leave her to hang out in the big open space while I head into the tack room to clean her tack.
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| Jaliska spots me through the window. |
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| She watches me work. |
She continues to watch me, seemingly entranced, while I clean and condition her bridle, draw reins, girth and saddle.
I move to the opposite end of the room to organize her tack trunk. She moves to the window closer to me to get a better view.
She continues to watch me, seemingly entranced, while I clean and condition her bridle, draw reins, girth and saddle.
She really is a funny horse.
After about forty-five minutes, I blanket her back up and give her two slices of hay. “See you tomorrow girl,” I say.
I start up my minivan and as I am driving past her stall I stop and roll down my window to say one last goodbye. Hearing me she turns around, leaving her hay, and pokes her head out to do the same.
I can’t resist. I hop out and hand her another apple. It is, after all, Christmas day.
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