i was talking to mo yesterday about the horses

now everyone needs to know that i know diddley squat about horses. the first horse i really knew well was our first rescue, gideon. so in the last year and a half i have had a crash course in starvation, arthritis, heart murmurs, bad teeth, laminitis, lymphoedema and cellulitis. because i know nothing about them, i like to watch them...that is how i learned about cats and dogs and bunnies. now i watch the sheep and pig and donkeys and horses so hopefully, eventually, i can learn enough about them to know what i am doing and to have a basic understanding of yet another alien species.

a couple of things i noticed with the horses while spritely teetered on the edge. when she couldn't walk, they stayed immobile right with her. gideon kept his face and nose near to her sore leg. yesterday when she started to weight bear and walk again, they would stay with her for awhile and then they would move a short distance away. spritely would have to move to stay with them. both mo and the vet told me that spritely has to put full weight on that foot and walk in order to get the swelling down (it is how their foot and lymphatic drainage system is designed) so i am watching them make spritely move by moving away from her so she is forced to follow.

the other thing i noticed, was on the last 2 days, when i was pretty sure that spritely 's hope had sunk, gideon was watching me...alot. he was looking at me every chance he got. and while he was looking at me, he would put himself between spritely and me so i couldn't see her leg. it stands to reason that ancient and wise gideon has seen many, many things in his 30 years of living. by virtue of the constant shifting and moving of horses to one home and then another, from one boarding place to the next, they travel some pretty interesting miles and chalk up some profound experiences along the way. how many times has our gideon seen a horse in crises and watched the signs that led up to death. and how many times has he watched the humans, with our weeping eyes and sad. sad hearts making that final journey of decision to let it end. my heart says that gideon knew exactly where we were going and in his own way he was doing what he could to keep spritely safe. i think that bloody horse was hiding her from me so i wouldn't mess around with his friend.