Predictable!

We were arriving home from taking a filly to town for her pre-travel health check.  I was looking forward to a few moments to relax and celebrate how well the four-month-old had done on her journey.  I was especially impressed because the wind had been buffeting the trailer mightily on the trip.  I was only slightly surprised, then, to see a tree blown down in one of the pony paddocks as we came up the driveway.  Sight was faster than thought – it took a moment to realize that there were no ponies in the paddock because the fallen tree had taken out the fence.  So much for the few moments of peace I’d been looking forward to!

As we pulled in to park, I scanned the landscape for the two missing geldings.  I figured they were somewhere eating, since geldings rarely have anything else on their minds.  As I unloaded the filly and started taking her to the mare paddock, sure enough my prediction proved accurate.  Torrin, my nineteen-year-old, had found his way around a fence into a haystack!  I knew then that I needn’t rush to catch him since he wasn’t likely to go anywhere.  And just as predictably, his paddock-mate was parked at that hay stack when I arrived with halters.  In situations like that, you gotta love a gelding.  So predictable!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2017

You can find more stories like this one in the book The Partnered Pony:  What's Possible, Practical, and Powerful with Small Equines, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.