The Simple Things

Yesterday, though cloudy, was another unseasonable warm day.

Not wanting to miss a single moment of this spring

preview, I spent a couple hours amongst the horses and donkeys in the dry lot.

I went out with my bucket of brushes, combs, and picks,

and set about brushing winter out of the horses' coats.

I brushed and brushed and detangled manes and tails,

trimmed the hair from their bridle paths,

and picked mud and stones out of hooves.

It was peaceful and sweet and everyone was extremely

tolerant, gentle, and exceptionally well-behaved.

It was the kind of moment that makes a Momma proud!

At any one given moment I had two or three of them nosing around

while I tended to one of their herd-mates.

By the time I finished, my sleeves, my dress hem, and my hair

had all been sufficiently sniffed and gently nibbled.

Staying clean is an impossibility in the dry lot.

The cleaner I get each of the horses, the dirtier I, myself, become.

When I finished, I sat myself down on one of their large play balls,

and waited to see who would visit.

One by one they all came for a sniff.

A couple stayed to nuzzle, nibble, and have a good go at messing up my hair.

These are some of the sweetest moments...

feeling accepted as one of the herd...

and being the object of their affection...

Perfect contentment.

It really is the simple things that make life wonderful...

a gentle nuzzle,

the smell of horse,

a quiet moment spent with a friend...

simple and perfect.