In To The Woods

     My horsey kid is a bully.  She is 2,000 pounds of horsey snipping, chicken chasing, dog nipping, cow terrorizing estrogen on four legs.  A blue jay perched itself on the rail of her stall a few mornings ago and started to squawk.  Autumn swung her head around, pinned her ears back and with glaring eyes told him to shove it. Thank goodness Autumn doesn't know how to use Facebook because I know she would be outstanding at cyber bullying.  

Autumn and her main squeeze Morrisimo...she apparently is not happy with him at this moment.

This chicken thought she might be able to catch a little bit of Autumn's grain as she ate...
She just barely survived becoming a nugget.

Autumn the Task Master

Move along little doggies...or else

     No one wants their kid to be a bully.  You don't want them to be mean to anyone and you don't want to see them that upset.  Autumn doesn't do it because it makes her happy.  Sometimes, I can see fear in her eyes and I think she just acts that way to protect herself.   Other times, I can see that Autumn is just fiercely protective over me.  She does not like seeing me spend time with other horses.  She will give another horse the six feet under stare the whole time I am tending to them.  She is also very sensitive to my attitude.  If I'm exhausted and a bit burnt out on my work she picks up that vibe and that's when she really lets everything around her know that she is not pleased.  I have been sort of at a loss as to how to make her nice and happy to everyone.   

    I took her for a ride after work last week.  It was just Autumn, myself, and the ranch dogs, Lilly and Shep.  It was a gray night, with not much light left in the sky.  I walked Autumn up the hill as the leaves blew around us with her ears up and happy.  I got on her when we passed through the pasture gate.  She walked calmly past the spot where I had seen a young mountain lion cub a few days before.  As we walked into the darkness of the woods I was really surprised at the echo coming off the highway at the base of the mountain.  It sounded like a big truck was driving through the woods.  Well, when I saw head lights I realized there was a huge dump truck driving out of the woods.  Bill, the ranch owner, was hauling some stumps to sure up the road's off slope.  This was a new one for Autumn.  I would bet that a majority of horses would have to be committed after encountering a situation like this... in the dark, being the only horse around, with a threatening sent of mountain lion drifting in the air as a monstrous truck roared toward them with blinding head lights... But Autumn was fine.  She walked up to the truck and wanted to say hi to Bill.  After a little chat we said our good byes and we walked deeper into the woods to the sound of giant stumps tumbling out of the back of the dump truck and crashing off the slope. 

     On that night ride, Autumn and I settled into each other, trusting each other deep into the darkness.  Autumn may not be warm and fuzzy to other animals but she loves, protects and listens to me. She takes me to places and shows me things that I would  never see without her and gives me with a life full of memories.  I am so lucky to have her.  In the past week Autumn added the below vignettes to our story together.

Twilight  outside the forest

A sunrise that stopped everything.

Standing before heaven

Bareback on Autumn under the Moon & Venus with last light fading from the day.

As I cantered Autumn down the beach I looked up and saw rainbow that encircled the sun. 

 

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Copyright (c) 2013 Jacksonhillhorseygirl.com November 5, 2013