Walkabout

I went on a walkabout today.  Remember Crocodile Dundee?   The movie from 1986?  The movie I saw IN THE THEATER no less than 5 times?  Why?  I don't know.   I liked Paul Hogan, I guess.  Why?  I don't know.  Whatever happened to him anyway?  Is he still alive?   Anyway, he talks about going on a walkabout.  And I went on one today.....google says it's a Aboriginal right of passage....and I'd say that's about right. 

This afternoon, The Dairy Farmer walked in the house with a large blue lead rope.  He dropped it on the floor and said, "go get your own horse, we have enough to do."  Now, I was about to go postal on him, because, hey.....I've been working on rebuilding nerves here!  That is NOT as easy as I make it look!  But, I have not worked on this farm since the beginning of February.  So, he's right.  They do have a lot to do, because one dairy farmer and two farm punks have been sharing my workload for over two months.  Not only have they been taking care of all the calves, they've been taking care of my horse.  So, I donned my work boots and off I went to find him......

See, I have this horse.  I got him when I was 9 years old, I think?  He was a pistol.....they had to drug him to put him on the trailer to haul his behind from upstate.  Why, you may ask, would parents let their young, impressionable daughter have such a crazed animal?  And you may be right?  He turned out to hate men too!  A friend of mine, who was.....a grown up man, decided to ride him to "check him out."  Up in the air they both went and if my 40 yr old brain remembers that long ago, I'm pretty sure they both went over backwards.   Scared the 9 yr old crap out of me and took me awhile to ride him.  Turned out, he was....and is.....the best daggone horse ever.  

 He never did trailer well......many horses shows were long over and there we were.....trying to load a stubborn, blindfolded horse by car headlights.  Oh, he'd walk right on at the barn, but not when it was time to go home!  When we moved, I had to ride him to his new boarding barn, more than once!   The day came when I was heading off to college and I "tried" to sell him.  It wasn't that no one wanted him.....I just couldn't part with him.   I decided to donate him to Wilson College to be used as a lesson horse.  When it was time to retire, I'd be the first phone call.  Perfection.   Well, until they came to get him and we couldn't get his sorry butt on the trailer. 

Fast forward thirteen or so years.   I was married, I had 2 small children and I got a phone call.  The old guy was pretty arthritic and it was time to retire.  After a "discussion" <read: tearful pleading> with The Dairy Farmer, it was decided that we didn't have any use for a hay burner on this here farm.   We had one child in private school and a little boy who took up a lot of my time and we really didn't have extra funds to bring a half dead horse home.   I conceded.  The Dairy Farmer was right....although it killed me to agree with him.    Just before I was to make the phone call telling Wilson to try to find someone else, The DF came to me and said "I know how long you've been waiting for that horse.  Bring him home."   That was August of 2003.   We figured, how long will we have him?  A year or two?    

Well, the reason I went on my walkabout was to go try and catch my 39 yr old pain in the butt!  He chokes on his food and he has no teeth, so he has to eat very special, very expensive feed.  He has to eat separately from the other horses and since the weather turned nice, he does NOT want to leave them to come inside to eat.....so, we have to chase his old, arthritic bones all over the pasture. 


On my walkabout, I decided to go visit my calves, one in particular who we will discuss later.  And I encountered something interesting....something strange.....a conundrum, if you will.   And, we shall discuss that later too.

In the meantime, here are some other things I saw on my walkabout:

I found this sneaky other horse......grabbing a taste of someone else's snack.  I really do like this horse, but I'm pretty sure there is only one other person who feels the same way (shout out to Virginia...his first mom)  He is a mustang and he is alpha.....he is also referred to as "the bastard" and "the 'beep'hole" by The Dairy Farmer.  But, this guy....loves me.  And as soon as he saw me, he came over and put his guilty head on my shoulder and breathed his warm horsey breath in my ear.   

I found these girls who ran along the fence making their happy chicken noises.  Hang on girls, I'll send a punk out with fresh feed for you, and if this weather stays nice, there will be plenty of big, fat, juicy crickets under your water bowl soon!

And, then I found this.  The reason for my afternoon stroll.  He's hard of hearing, his vision isn't what it used to be, he's thin, arthritic and slow.  He's sporting his winter look and is in need of a good shave and a haircut.  But, daggone it....he wintered well.   As my vet says every year.....4 good feet and a strong heart.....he may be here awhile.