Chutes and Ladders type of day.
I went (with The Lad) on a road trip yesterday. For some reason he agreed to come to the Madison area with me where I had to pick up two young horses that belong to one of my favorite clients.
The trip was dull, as car rides often are. The truck has no CD player, and since we both live in the stone age there was not an ipod between us. Instead, The Lad read to me from Golf Digest (yes, it is mildly embarrassing, but I actually watch golf some weekends - and like it).
While the trip was uneventful, dealing with the horses was less so. Killarney, a big, opinionated three year old had lost her halter and would not let me catch her. An hour into trying (I broke down and even had the owner bring grain out) she still would not let me touch her. In a burst of inspiration, I had the owner help me to lead a couple of the other horses into the barn hoping (praying) that the herd mentality would kick in and Killarney would follow. Fortunately, both for my ego and for the sake of safety, she went into the barn and was closed in a box stall with a friend. Putting a halter on was still a bit of a trial. In the enclosed space she very quickly turned around and tried to kick my face off several times. With my mongoose-like reflexes I avoided that particular disaster and was finally able to halter the beast.
The other horse was not as badly behaved. Donnarwind (DW) is a yearling colt who spent several months with me last summer. The unfortunate bit is that he is absolutely huge for his age and has not had consistent enough handling. He is still pastured with his mother and does not lead particularly well. We took both baby and mother into the barn with only slight drama (he reared about a dozen times with some slight spinning and trying to run the blonde at the end of the lead rope down). At least he has the excuse of only being a baby.
The best part is next… I had the owners schedule for the vet to be there. We sedated both horses so I could get them into the trailer with a minimum of bloodshed (mine). It went brilliantly and we were soon on the road with two dozing horses.
For all of the horse owners out there let me just say you need to work very consistently with young horses. They should lead safely from the time they area couple of months old. They should not be allowed to think they are in the Alpha position where humans are concerned (this is Killarney’s biggest problem). Trainers do not particularly like to be killed. Seems simple enough.
On the way home, I learned that Kevin’s dad had passed away. While not unexpected, it was still very painful. He was a loving, kind and compassionate father-figure in addition to being my dear friend. I shall miss him terribly, I can’t even express the feeling of loss. While The Lad napped, I had a cleansing cry (something I really don’t like to do) and reflected on the time I was able to spend with Roger recently. I am so glad that I went to Chicago a couple of weeks ago and didn’t miss the opportunity to add more positive experiences to my memory bank.
Arriving home, The Lad helped me to unload the horses (the Great Dane was pretty excited by Killarney’s misbehavior and was causing some difficulty for me which The Lad was able to mitigate). Then I took him home.
After doing chores I decided to get cleaned up and attend a function with my former colleagues at a local tavern. I struggled for a while with the decision. It didn’t seem right to have fun with such a heavy heart, but I decided that life really is to short to stay at home mourning a situation that I had no means to change. Having a brief chat with my mother helped. She knows the whole situation and encouraged me to get out of the house and enjoy the opportunity at hand.
In truth, there are a great many people from work that I truly enjoyed spending time with and will miss. Our working dynamic was excellent. In fact, there were few (if any) that I did not genuinely like or at least come to appreciate. Several of the attendees were former employees that I had not seen for months and months (including The Lad’s sister in-law, with whom I worked closely and developed a great relationship). It was nice to have time together out of the work environment and get to know some of the people better.
While we were eating, one lady barraged The Lad and I with questions regarding our state of not dating. She is a proponent of a Lad/Billie relationship it seems. The Sister-in-law it seems is hip to the fact that The Lad and I spend some time together. As she was saying tearful goodbyes to the group she stopped, gave me a hug and said “I am sure I will be seeing you, so I don’t need to cry.” When I asked why, she told me that she was not stupid and that her grandfather had told her that The Lad had a pretty, blonde girlfriend who rides horses. The Lad rents from the grandparents and the 90+ year old fellow ambushed me for a chat one day as I dropped good luck with the interview flowers, of all things, off. I am busted in that respect - oh, except there is no dating (nothing beyond simply - and almost too innocently hanging out, sorry to be such a bore). The timing for both of us is dreadful right now. Damnation.