Oy, the things people with horses get up to…
I like horses, normally, but a horse that gets in the habit of pissing where it lives is the foulest creature I’ve ever encountered. Gallons of the stuff, all deposited in the same place, turns ordinary dirt into stinking muck. And there’s nothing for it but to haul it out and replace it with new every now and then or the whole barn will be unbearable.
This morning D&L wanted to pull the mats out of Coal’s corral, clean up the foulness as much as possible, put the mats back where they belong and then cut a new and better ditch for the piss to drain outside. And neither of them are really strong enough anymore to carry any of that out, so guess how I spent my morning.
Tobie was very excited at the prospect of a Jeep ride…
…less so when I leashed him to the rear bumper and left him alone in the shade of the barn. I came out with a wheelbarrow of muck and found him sitting back in the Jeep as if willing it to move. So I brought him into the barn…
…and I want it stated for the record that he was such a good boy. He doesn’t get social occasions very often and they used to excite him so much he could get dangerous to be near. But the last two times, including this morning, he has really been on his best behavior: Just digging being a part of what people are doing but staying scrupulously out of the way. I really think he might be maturing at last.
Now if I could convince him to come straight back after a rabbit chase, I’d stop worrying about him quite so much. But he failed his recent chance to prove himself on that score pretty solidly.
