A good Way To Start The Day

This morning I went for a short ride. It was after a thunderstorm. The air was still steamy with humidity, the kind of climate where my horse just sweats, without much exertion. Y'all might think Im weird, but I love the smell of a sweaty horse as much as I love the smell of a non-sweaty horse. It triggers something pleasant inside my brain, makes me feel good, just generally good. Its hard to describe, a feeling like I belong where I am at that moment, happy in the company of horses.

I could see the thunderstorm heading off to the South, heavy ominous clouds and lightening streaking down from the sky, but at a safe distance. When my horse and I left our home, the 2 baby rabbits that have moved in were by the garage eating the old, turning limp and brown, celery I threw out there for them. My little dog Elvis, incarcerated inside his dog pen was not happy and voicing his displeasure in short, shrill barks. He could just barely see the baby rabbits but that was enough to get him riled up. Elvis' barking stopped when I was out of sight. After about 2-3 minutes, I could hear his faint 'lonesome' howl. It is his howl when he realises he is home alone and is missing his humans.
I headed East into the morning rays peeking thru the clearing clouds. The ground was soft and wet on the roadside, nice and comfortable for my horse. We stepped out at a fast walk, my old horse has always been a fast walker, not much of a dawdler but at the same time he doesnt mind being at the back of the herd. When I approached A.s grandmother's house, her grandmother was sitting out on thier front porch drinking coffee. She waved me up the drive and I obliged. A. was still sleeping, it was early about 7:30 am. I dismounted and sat on a step. Grandmother P. offered me some coffee and I accepted, it smelled wonderful. She went inside thier quaint farmhouse door and then reappeared a minute later and gave me my cup of coal black java. I sipped it carefully, it was steaming hot. A.'s brown and white pony was nickering a greeting to my horse from the corral behind thier big, old fashioned barn. My horse flicked an ear in that direction and gave a half glance, then went back to standing over my shoulder. Grandmother P. and I talked about nothing in particular. The weather, The Osage Nation Elections and thier electorial platforms, oil prices, gas prices, the latest rumors of who was sleeping with who, who was preggers, who was getting a divorce. The usual stuff. I finished my coffee and realised I had better get myself back home. Hubby took the toddler terror with him into town to the pump shop to get some supplies, and so I could have about an hour of peace ALONE before I became a raving lunatic. I had been gone for almost an hour. So I said my goodbye, then my horse and I strolled back home. I gave him a good grooming and spent some time just fussing over him, which he enjoys a lot. I turned him out and he went to the only dirt patch in his North pasture and promptly rolled.

No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle. ~Winston Churchill