The Black Stallion: Harmony

Monday March 26 2007

This morning the clouds were hanging low enough to obscure the near mountaintops and it was cool - yea! I'm Wearing fleece - no complaints here!

Trevor wanted to put his black stallion Cherox Egyptian Harmony out in a pasture with a mare. I rode with Trevor on the 4-wheeler as he ponied the black stallion down the paved road, up a gravel road on his property and into a paddock with a mare who was waiting and ready for her black stallion. Boy that's a good looking horse. He's not very big, 14.2 hands, and I am a great sucker for black horses (and he's true black, doesn't get a cover - blanket), but he's really well put together, and he's got terrific manners. He and his uncle had their eye on this horse from Australia, and bought him a few years ago. He throws some nice horses, and they aren't all small like he is. He trotted along behind us, then we sped up and he galloped right along. Even when he had a paddock of horses whinnying at him and trotting alongside him, he bellowed at them, but never altered his course in following us.

Back at the house, Andrew showed up to help Trevor continue cutting up the huge 100-plus-yr-old tree they had to cut down before it split and fell on the road and his house. I, meanwhile, could take Picksy out for a 10 km walk down the road. If Trevor was positive he wanted to trust me with his Nationals horse - sure! I could do that.

Trevor caught him and saddled him up for me and turned me loose, and Picksy and I did the 6-mile strolling loop down the road past the neighbors' farms. It was still overcast, slightly cool, but no wind, very comfortable, and very lovely to be out in the Kiwi countryside riding (again) a Lord of the Rings horse! It took us two hours, what with having to stop on the way up and fill the tank up with grass a couple of times.

When we got back the boys were almost done with their work for the day, Andrew still chain-sawing away and Trevor hauling the trunks and branches away with the tractor. I brushed yesterday's sand and sweat off Picksy, then turned him loose in the very front yard. Then I sat out on the porch with the computer to keep an eye on him, had an ice-cold beer, and kicked up my feet. The boys stopped their work and Trevor fixed Picksy's feed while Andrew started the grill.

We had yummy barbeque (Trevor's home-grown cows) out on the porch into dark. The low clouds were still around, but no precipitation, and it was very silent. You could only hear distant traffic if you listened real hard (Trevor groused at it and I said "You need to move further out into the country!") and a bull bawling. Andrew's sausage dog launched herself off the porch several times to find scraps Andrew threw her.

Andrew left, and another neighbor farmer stopped by - neighbors are always popping in on Trevor - and they talked sheep and cows. And a bit of horses. Vince didn't have horses, but Trevor's world revolves around them, so there's always talk of horses in the house, no matter who you are.