Sundays are special at the Kindness Ranch. Special because I don't do as much office work as usual, don't get as many business-related calls, and I've already had Saturday to begin my unwinding process from the hectic workweek. Sundays mean more time with the animals.
One of the ways I enjoyed today was by thoroughly grooming the horses. So mentally therapeutic, and good exercise for the arms too! The colts—a year old and Second Chance already larger than one of the adults—galloped over when I called and soaked up the attention, bobbing their heads up and down as I brushed their necks. How far they've come since the first time I attempted to groom them a few weeks ago! As I brushed Second Chance, he rested his head on my shoulder and breathed down my back while Milagro tousled my hair and tried to nibble my arms. I loosened pieces of tumbleweed from Milagro's mane as he tried to playfully shrug me off, and I stroked the soft hair of Second Chance, noticing how his black spots were much hotter than his white spots in the sun.
It was lightly sprinkling, and I gazed up over a horse's back to see a rainbow over the hills. I regretted not bringing my camera to capture it and the horses with their silky manes and blissed-out, glazed expressions. But I told myself I'd remember this gorgeous place and the animals who make it so breathtaking.
The mares, Stormy and Shima, were next, and I unfastened a tick from Stormy's ankle and unknotted some of Shima's dreadlocks before she decided she'd had enough human attention for the day. Meanwhile, Stormy followed me around, the gentle and sad horse I hug daily and promise her that she'll be reunited with her sweet colt in another month, after weaning.
One of the ways I enjoyed today was by thoroughly grooming the horses. So mentally therapeutic, and good exercise for the arms too! The colts—a year old and Second Chance already larger than one of the adults—galloped over when I called and soaked up the attention, bobbing their heads up and down as I brushed their necks. How far they've come since the first time I attempted to groom them a few weeks ago! As I brushed Second Chance, he rested his head on my shoulder and breathed down my back while Milagro tousled my hair and tried to nibble my arms. I loosened pieces of tumbleweed from Milagro's mane as he tried to playfully shrug me off, and I stroked the soft hair of Second Chance, noticing how his black spots were much hotter than his white spots in the sun.
It was lightly sprinkling, and I gazed up over a horse's back to see a rainbow over the hills. I regretted not bringing my camera to capture it and the horses with their silky manes and blissed-out, glazed expressions. But I told myself I'd remember this gorgeous place and the animals who make it so breathtaking.
The mares, Stormy and Shima, were next, and I unfastened a tick from Stormy's ankle and unknotted some of Shima's dreadlocks before she decided she'd had enough human attention for the day. Meanwhile, Stormy followed me around, the gentle and sad horse I hug daily and promise her that she'll be reunited with her sweet colt in another month, after weaning.
A chunk of my afternoon was spent cajoling a wayward potbellied pig to return to the barn. Bernadette had been showing off her relatively newfound freedom and fighting with her former roommate and nemesis Antoinette through the fence, and today enormous Antoinette escaped and attacked Bernadette, who ran away howling. I repaired the fence and put Antoinette back in her pen, but Bernadette had taken off. She was quite a distance away as I headed after her through the thick grass to persuade her back home with a nectarine. The whole time I kept vigilant for snakes—rattlesnakes, to be exact, who should be emerging about now and basking in the sun. I regretted my choice to wear shorts today but was glad I had thrown on the blue cowboy boots.
When I reached the deaf pig—the other pigs will come when you call them—she turned around and followed the nectarine, painfully slowly, back to the barn. She only had one small new nick that I could see, likely a pig bite. But once we at last reached her pigpen, she saw her new roommate—sweet, harmless and tremendously fat Simone—and again fled. I began to wonder if her eyes as well as her hearing were failing, because it was Bernadette who is sometimes bossy and aggressive with Simone, not the other way around. I ended up leaving Bernadette loose in the barn to make a mess until dinnertime, when I was able to coax her into her pen with Simone.
As I headed home a little while ago to pay bills, return phone calls and answer e-mails—and oh, to change five cat litterboxes next door too—a chore I do while holding my breath—I caught a glimpse of a shiny, spiky black furball. I stopped and peaked around the side of the road, and sure enough, it was a baby porcupine! A fuzzy little angel black face and a tail like a black-tailed prairie dog, but fatter, like a tiny beaver's tail. The likely product of the two large brown porcupines who've been hanging around, busily killing the pine trees. When he saw me he waddled away in the slow, bumbling sort of style I've come to learn porcupines have, and joined his mother in their secret home, nudging her to let him in while he looked for me over his shoulder.
As I headed home a little while ago to pay bills, return phone calls and answer e-mails—and oh, to change five cat litterboxes next door too—a chore I do while holding my breath—I caught a glimpse of a shiny, spiky black furball. I stopped and peaked around the side of the road, and sure enough, it was a baby porcupine! A fuzzy little angel black face and a tail like a black-tailed prairie dog, but fatter, like a tiny beaver's tail. The likely product of the two large brown porcupines who've been hanging around, busily killing the pine trees. When he saw me he waddled away in the slow, bumbling sort of style I've come to learn porcupines have, and joined his mother in their secret home, nudging her to let him in while he looked for me over his shoulder.
I've been here exactly a month and have only for the first time today made time to blog about some of my experiences here. It was the little porcupine who topped off my inspiration.
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