Hair-In-The-Throat Season

I was visiting a friend, and while we were talking in her barn, she coughed. “It’s not coronavirus. I promise,” she said quickly. I believed her because she had been self-isolating, and she lived in an area where incidence of the pandemic had so far been low. A dry cough is, of course, one of the symptoms of COVID-19. I was at a cattle sale several weeks ago, and despite our efforts to sit away from other people, socially distancing ourselves, someone came in after we did, sat down behind me, then coughed in my direction. I moved to another location quickly, and everything turned out all right, but we talk about that situation often whenever we venture into public.

The other day when my friend coughed, I also believed her assurance that her cough wasn’t due to COVID-19 because of what she said next. “I’ve got a pony hair in my throat!” I have caught myself coughing multiple times for exactly the same reason. It’s hair-in-the-throat season around here, with many of my ponies leaving me with handfuls of hair whenever I pet them. Some of that hair, despite my best efforts, becomes airborne and enters my mouth. Whenever I cough, though, I do catch myself pausing for a second to make sure I’m feeling all right otherwise. What a fascinating time we are living through, where so much of what used to be normal is no longer that way.

You can read more stories about my life with ponies and its connection to the world around us in my book The Partnered Pony, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

Partnered Pony Blog