Horse Lust

March 21, 2011

It’s been a very long winter here in southwestern Pennsylvania. I’m not a fan of winter, even in a mild year, so this one has been especially tough.

But finally, spring has arrived. I’ve traded in walks on the treadmill for walks in the great outdoors most days.

And, on Saturday, I finally got my hands on some horses.

I’ve been in withdrawal. All winter, I’ve been watching reruns of old westerns (I can recite dialogue from most episodes of Alias Smith and Jones) just to see the horses. Okay, maybe I enjoy the cute cowboys, too. Just a little.

But I digress. Saturday, I headed to Mountaineer for the first time since last fall. I arrived before my trainer friend, Jessi, so I found a place to sit next to the rail on the far turn to take some photos.

At 8:30, there was a schooling race.

It may have been for practice, but no one told the horses that.

Afterwards, I headed backside and spent some private time in Jessi’s barn with her horses. Several of them weren’t interested in letting me satisfy my horse lust and threatened to nip. But two of them were quite content to permit me to scratch their itches (and warm my fingers…it was still a tad chilly at that hour). One of them was Plunge for Gold AKA Goldie. We soon formed a firm friendship.

Once Jessi arrived, I was given the task of walking horses while she cleaned their stalls. First I walked my other itch-scratching buddy—a filly named Not Very Posh. I didn’t get any pictures of her because I was too busy walking. Next, Jessi and I gave Goldie a bath, and I walked him until he dried off. He’s for sale, and Jessi wanted some good photos of him.

Before the photo shoot, though, she wanted to braid his bridle path. The problem is Goldie’s notoriously ear shy. But that early morning itch-scratching session had bonded us, and he allowed me to play with his forelock a bit. With both Jessi and I cooing and praising him, she managed to get the braids in. No problem.

Here are some of the shots I got of him all prettied up.