Horses Through a Child's Eyes

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 Our 10 year old grand-daughter visited us last weekend.

Time spent with her is magical.

I often find myself just quietly standing, observing her and taking it all in:  how she sees the world, how her time with me influences her (and how I may need to adjust those influences!).  I catch myself striving to pass on some of the wonderful lessons I learned from my grand-father from our time spent in nature and those moments seem so.full.circle.

She loves our animals and they (mostly) love her back.  The dogs and cats clearly adore her.  My more extroverted horses are fine with her stroking their faces and the soft hair under their manes.  My skeptical horses tend to turn away from her and are not used to the noise and excess movements of an energetic 10 year old.

I am amazed at what she remembers.

She often stops at our one empty run-in stall and pauses to think about our departed mare, Laura.   She may dust off the still mounted brass name plate and sometimes she will even put a little handful of hay into her stall, something I did for a week or two after Laura died.  This action of course flies in the face of all logic, but I suppose is rooted in the need and want to continue to care for our beautiful mare, even though she is no longer with us physically.

But her spirit lives on here and when my grand-daughter and I do our "nature walks" around the farm, we often find ourselves ending them over by Laura's grave, just a simple mound in the earth, unmarked, but we know where it is.

I will usually place a dandelion on top of the grave, it having been one of Laura's favorite treats and I will stand and visualize her at her best, flying across our pasture, tail-flagged and head high, burning off some of her endless energy, often snorting at the rest of the horses after completing a circuit around the field.  

This past weekend we had some sun and I thought of how it would reflect almost purple on her neck and flank as it shone on her deep bay coat.  I was caught in just such a moment of reverie when I noticed my grand-daughter collecting dandelions and very precisely and carefully placing them IN the earth an inch or so below the surface of the soil.  Being almost winter here, this took some effort on her part and yet she persisted telling me that the dandelions need to be IN the earth, not just on top.

I would not question her judgement on that and instead chose to just marvel at her and the love and respect she was able to show for a horse that she knew I loved dearly....all of this at the tender age of 10.

As always, there are more lessons for me from time spent with my grand-daughter than there are for her.  How fortunate I am.




The losses are difficult to take, but love remains.
Sue

(Note:  written in 2020)

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