That first day
Mar. 25th, 2005 09:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
murakoziAhh, more rambling fluff about the horses.
While autumn is my favorite season, I'm also very partial to early spring. It's hard not to like the plants coming back to life, even if it does mean allergy misery for some of us. The non-rainy days when you have to debate a little as to whether it's still cool enough to need a jacket are heaven for me. Great for a walk through the woods or, even better, for horse watching.
The "First Day on the Grass" is one of my favorite days of the year. That's the day that the grass pasture has been proclaimed to be established (and dry) enough for the horses to go out on it. The horses know the day is coming well in advance. Even now, when turned out, some of them stand at the gate leading from the dirt pasture to the big grass pasture, looking longingly over there and perking up to look hopeful any time a human comes walking up. "Maybe he'll open the gate! Is today the day? Awww! He's just filling the stock tanks." Other horses will keep an eye on any activity from elsewhere in the dirt pasture, not wanting to leave their particular haypile unless it's the real thing.
When the day arrives, the reaction is amazing. The group at the gate will perk up as usual. Nearby horses will look when someone walks over near the gate, ready to go back to eating their hay if it's a false alarm. The gate between the pastures doesn't have a latch. It's secured either with rope or a chain tied tightly, so it takes a few moments before it can be opened. When someone starts fiddling there, the whole herd goes on alert. Soon there's a crowd at the gate, jostling about in anticipation.
When the gate opens, it's a stampede. 25-30 horses all wanting to be the first to get out onto that grass. Herd rank makes no difference. Surprisingly, I've never seen any of 'em try to shove the gate open faster. They all just try to get through that ever widening opening to the grass. Horses up at the top of the grass pasture, realizing what's going on, come running down full tilt. Soon the whole herd is running around in the lower pasture, heads and tails high, with some happy bucks and kicks thrown in. For the first few minutes nobody even tries to graze. Instead they just run about in a fit of equine joy, quite often circling the perimiter of the pasture as one big herd. Soon, little groups split off, some stopping to graze for a moment before running around some more, others getting down to the serious business of getting as much of that nice fresh grass into themselves as possible.
Each year, I've wished I had a decent video camera to get some footage of the event. One year in particular, I woulda killed for one. The littlest pony, Cupcake, was still at the barn. She was always a proper and quiet old lady. This year, she was so excited to be out on the grass that she ended up by herself, at the crest of a little swell in the pasture, running around and around in a circle maybe 15 feet across. It was the perfect image of a happy pony.
There's no real point I'm trying to get across here. Just sharing one of those really nifty moments that I look forward to every year. Heck, I'm probably as eager for that first day to arrive as the horses are. Sometimes wanting something is more enjoyable than having it, and sometimes, the having is far far better. Having a whole bunch of very happy equines is a good thing, indeed.
While autumn is my favorite season, I'm also very partial to early spring. It's hard not to like the plants coming back to life, even if it does mean allergy misery for some of us. The non-rainy days when you have to debate a little as to whether it's still cool enough to need a jacket are heaven for me. Great for a walk through the woods or, even better, for horse watching.
The "First Day on the Grass" is one of my favorite days of the year. That's the day that the grass pasture has been proclaimed to be established (and dry) enough for the horses to go out on it. The horses know the day is coming well in advance. Even now, when turned out, some of them stand at the gate leading from the dirt pasture to the big grass pasture, looking longingly over there and perking up to look hopeful any time a human comes walking up. "Maybe he'll open the gate! Is today the day? Awww! He's just filling the stock tanks." Other horses will keep an eye on any activity from elsewhere in the dirt pasture, not wanting to leave their particular haypile unless it's the real thing.
When the day arrives, the reaction is amazing. The group at the gate will perk up as usual. Nearby horses will look when someone walks over near the gate, ready to go back to eating their hay if it's a false alarm. The gate between the pastures doesn't have a latch. It's secured either with rope or a chain tied tightly, so it takes a few moments before it can be opened. When someone starts fiddling there, the whole herd goes on alert. Soon there's a crowd at the gate, jostling about in anticipation.
When the gate opens, it's a stampede. 25-30 horses all wanting to be the first to get out onto that grass. Herd rank makes no difference. Surprisingly, I've never seen any of 'em try to shove the gate open faster. They all just try to get through that ever widening opening to the grass. Horses up at the top of the grass pasture, realizing what's going on, come running down full tilt. Soon the whole herd is running around in the lower pasture, heads and tails high, with some happy bucks and kicks thrown in. For the first few minutes nobody even tries to graze. Instead they just run about in a fit of equine joy, quite often circling the perimiter of the pasture as one big herd. Soon, little groups split off, some stopping to graze for a moment before running around some more, others getting down to the serious business of getting as much of that nice fresh grass into themselves as possible.
Each year, I've wished I had a decent video camera to get some footage of the event. One year in particular, I woulda killed for one. The littlest pony, Cupcake, was still at the barn. She was always a proper and quiet old lady. This year, she was so excited to be out on the grass that she ended up by herself, at the crest of a little swell in the pasture, running around and around in a circle maybe 15 feet across. It was the perfect image of a happy pony.
There's no real point I'm trying to get across here. Just sharing one of those really nifty moments that I look forward to every year. Heck, I'm probably as eager for that first day to arrive as the horses are. Sometimes wanting something is more enjoyable than having it, and sometimes, the having is far far better. Having a whole bunch of very happy equines is a good thing, indeed.