I had an absolutely wonderful ride with Tonka tonight. It was just at home and fairly short because I was mainly just trying to find out what my body was doing after my chiropractor visit yesterday. Turns out I need to go back :( but it was still a wonderful ride.
We just toodled around, and a lot of the time I let Tonka decide where to go. Of course he was very food motivated. The thistles are blooming and he tenderly and carefully ate a lot of their heads. Then we went to the apple trees to see how they're doing and he picked himself one, and I picked him a better one from a tree that is closer to ripening. It was fun to just wander around with no agenda.
It got me to thinking about Trust, and how a lot of people say you can never trust a horse. Well, I can say that I know Tonka well enough to trust him to be who he is, and to be honest. Can I trust him to protect me, to take care of me, not to kill me? No, that's not who he is. I can trust him to be goofy and make me smile and to generously give me moments of great happiness and togetherness. I can also trust him to eye every new object or out of place shovel with distrust, and occasionally to jump out from under me. I can trust him to tell me when he's frustrated or cranky, or when he's happy and relaxed. I can trust him to stand there looking extraordinarily handsome when I tie him outside the house while I run in to get something. I sure do love that horse.
He's got a swollen, irritated eye tonight. It's not bad - if you didn't know him you probably wouldn't notice. But I put some ointment in it anyway and I'm hoping he'll be fine tomorrow.
Tonka sounds like a happy boy.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a teenager in England, I would sometimes let my pony decide which bridlepath (public path for horses) we'd take. He took us on some really good adventures. I trusted him.