EQUINE BOUNDRIES

I have been walking my two horses a set distance now for a couple of weeks, and I obviously need to extend our little evening expedition by a bit.

There is only one problem.

Well, possibly two.

No, the first one is not Najale, my clinically-insane Paint.

Yes, he has jerked the lead rope out of my hand numerous times and taken off for the horizon.

But when he gets about 20 feet away he always stops, looks back at me with a "so, what, are you coming or what?" expression, and then allows me to walk right up to him and regain control (I think he's just very aware of the fact that since I feed him, by running away he might compromise his next meal).

No, my main problem is Sally, the mare.

Sally is a retired Thoroughbred who has also given birth to lots and lots of foals. Horses, like most mammels, come into season only a few times throughout the year so the babies will only been born in better seasons and not in the dead of winter.

Except for Sally.

I have owned her for almost seven years now, and I think she has been out of season maybe a couple of weeks for those complete seven years.

Which has made her an ideal brood mare, and a great baby-producer.

But it is like having (pardon the comparison) a teenage BOY always on the outlook for that one hot , hot chick.

No, that's stupid - a teenage boy always on the outlook for ANY hot chick.

Okay, reality here - a teenage boy always on the outlook for anything remotely SHAPED like a female.

Stop right here, Hope.

So when Sally, who is normally of a calm, obedient and tranquil nature, sees something that just MIGHT be the stallion she has been dreaming off (and this 'something' can be a cow, a yucca, sometimes even a large dog in the distance - her eyesight is pretty poor)...

Then Sally is immediately is transformed into a CRAZY hot equus caballus who is completely capable of thundering off for an illicit affair with a complete stranger.

And since...

1. One end of my road ends at a pasture with grazing cattle (which look amazingly like Sally's dream-stud), and

2. The other end of the road passes by a pasture owned by three horses (who, although they don't look as good as the cattle do, still get her pretty hot and heavy),

It is next to impossible to walk her past these lustful images without having another finger of mine broken, so I am committing to extending our walks in an unusual manner.

Doubling back and re walking the same path.

Let's see how the horses put up with this tomorrow.

Today: Yogurt x 2 -- 300
Fiber One x 2 -- 120
3 bites of my husband's chicken and rice (I think he added about 1/2 lb. of margarine - yuck) -- 200 (?)
Toast and Peanut Butter -- 130 + 376 ( I have to find something with less calories)
TOTAL -- 1,126