Early morning studies

And so, as the days go by, all are getting used to the old routine at new places.

As I walk up to the gate I see 'Mr F' just about to wonder off into the distance, the other two quite a bit ahead of him. Upon noticing me he stops and watches what I might be up to while I make why way to the gate. Between us is a main road that goes through the village so there is quite a fair amount of traffic, especially tractors and plenty of builder vans with trailers.

'Mr F' keeps waiting and watching me as I climb the gate with breakfast, both his and mine. As he sees the food bucket he comes tortting up. He still looks lovely when he moves, a little stiff perhaps but nonetheless beautiful. As I walked to them the previous evening I observed some guests residing at the nearby hall, both where admiring 'Mr F' even though he had his fly mask on. He just as got that 'certain something' or "je ne sais quoi" as I used to say in my home country (being Swiss, albeit from the German speaking side). When I look at his photographs when I met him first he was a insecure and quite 'fed up' being, not knowing what was going on.

I think because it was I that fed him up to strength and groomed him and gave him security, he now so implicitly trusts me that it is sometimes quite hard to handle.

In a perfect world I would have my own property. In fact after 'Mr F' I doubt I will again want to have a horse simply because I find it very difficult being at the mercy of other land owners which will of course involve other horses and their owners. And therein lies my concern because by now I have witnessed some seriously ignorant horse handling - as though they are a tool or an object such as a car. You take it out the garage (filed), start it up (tack it up) and off you go. Very rarely is there any understanding of the horses needs, specifically its state of mind needs. Of course they are by no means as conditioned as we humans are but they still have basic needs: health, comfort, food = security and sanity. We all know what happens with horses that do not understand what we wont from them.  I have to say it again: whenever something goes 'wrong' with a horse, it is ALWAYS the humans fault. Either right there or than or somewhere down the line in the past.  Every minute with spend with them they learn something and I wish people would realise this!

A horse is NOT a pet. It cannot be handled like a dog, nor is it an object. A horse is a being quite unlike any others, mostly wild still and yet so willing to be in our company (and I have no idea why because most of us don't treat them well!)

The more I spend time with horses, especially now with the move I am meeting new horses, the more I learn and the more the communication levels change. And I will forever be in awe of these divine beings, because they bring us so much peace if we would just learn to be 'aware' in the moment.

But going back to the feeding before I loose myself in phylosophical matters:

As 'Mr F' is enjoying his breakfast, 'Kitten' and 'Tolka' join as well. 'Tolka' still tries to sneak up on the food bucket but is slowly realising that he won't get anything. 'Kitten' meanwhile knows that she has to wait until 'Mr F' has finished. She then licks out what little is left.

Today 'Mr F' was in a solitary mood and once he had his carots after breakfast, he wanders off into the distance. Most of the time he remains with me for some grooming but every now and then he just wants to be left alone. I noticed that he also gets annoyed with me if I fuss 'Tolka'. He shows this by shooeing 'Tolka' away from me and then positions himself right next to me, his head by my shoulder.

This still puzzles me, almost as though to say:  'She is mine!'.

Eventually 'Kitten' follows 'Mr F' but 'Tolka' still hangs around with me. We both just stand there, watching. He has the sweet habit of resting his head on top of mine, I guess I am just the perfect height! 'Mr F' is by now at the other end of the field where the cows are. 'Kitten' has stopped right in the middle between us and 'Mr F'. She is wanting 'Tolka' to follow, she keeps staring at us.

And so I make my way back to the gate, giving 'Tolka' a little pat on his hinds and he takes this as a signal to make his way towards 'Kitten'. She meanwhile watches me walk away and waits for 'Tolka' to join her, and he does just that; he lightly trotts across the field and then they both wander off to meet with 'Mr F'.

Little events like this are so lovely to be able to witness, especially how they communicate with each other, mostly body language but I am quite sure there is something going on on a deeper level.

It's bound to rain later on so 'Mr F' will have to make do being outside without stable for now, I am sure he'll complain to me later on! But the field they are in offers plenty of trees to stand under if they wanted to and it is not yet cold.