If it could be like this always: abundance, independence, golden hues, leisure, temperate, and peaceful!
” … summer afternoon; to me those have always been the most beautiful words in the English language.”
–Henry James
“I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine … ”
–Nathaniel Hawthorne, The American Notebooks
Summer passes into autumn but our new season simply blends into an extended summer, warm and dry. The spring and summer foals are growing into gangly youths ready to be independent of their mothers.
Even though That Herd horses are accustomed to my appearances, sometimes they don’t want anything to do with me. I don’t take it personally when mares keep their distance with a newborn foal. I can respect the enormous responsibility they face. In a free range environment, one cannot be too careful. In this case, her distance makes for quite a wonderful scene. It’s a filly, by the way.
“A horse is a thing of beauty … none will tire of looking at him as long as he displays himself in his splendor.”
–Xenophon
Early morning dawns bright but with the threat of unsettled weather. Intense thunderstorms rocked the area all night.
Moments like this have such poetry in them; one is inspired to breath deeply and be grateful. I see a story, a painting, a lesson, a memory, math, mystery, and more.
This carefree romp is brought to you by the That Herd stallion. Life is good.
“The sun, the hero of every day, the impersonal old man that beams as brightly on death as on birth, came up every morning and raced across the blue dome and dipped into the sea of fire every evening.”
–Zora Neale Hurston, The Gilded Six-Bits
At first light, several horses walk softly along a path in a wooded area while patches of light illuminate a hillside in the distance.
I can take a hundred photos of the same horse, but only very rarely do I feel like I captured a picture of the horse I see in in that moment. The differences in the images are slight, and without anything to compare it to, you, as a viewer would not find fault with the horse’s portrayal. For example, this image spoke to me while several other images that are very similar, did not. This is a complex young mare, who often disappears in a crowd. She is plain looking and quietly lives among her herd mates. These observations contrast the very real fact that she is an amazing individual with intelligence and fortitude. The less obvious qualities of a horse, when captured in an image, are priceless.
” … She holds her breath. As if to stop any more time from passing, to stop the future happening. The peacefulness of the morning is almost heartbreaking in its fragility.” –Glenn Haybittle, The Way Back To Florence
“The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature
Life keeps interfering with me posting regularly, and now that the new foals are being born there’s lots to share. Here is a quick post to share a curious but cautious face that could not be any cuter.
The last light of day cuts through a sloping pasture and touches a scene of motherly attention
with a young mare and her new foal.
“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy … ”
–Orson F. Whitney
This old mare has herself lived a life of quiet endurance, consistently producing capable offspring for many years, and leading the herd of mares as a steadfast example of fortitude.
She and her new foal are a perfect example of the passing of time as we enter a new year; symbolic of wisdom, experience, and the promise of new growth and adventures to come.
Even in small doses, nature changes how we feel.
When was the last time you went outside and did something you remember?
Like two sides of a coin, this late day illumination of a curious chestnut horse shows, on one hand, an interested horse, and on the other, a horse with some concern about my appearance. Either way, the last rays of light illuminate his chestnut coat beautifully. He is a handsome fellow.
