A Night with Cricket

It's been a rough week at work and it looks like it's not going to get better any time soon.  On the bright side, it's  a great opportunity for me to gain more experience and help out my boss - never a bad thing as evaluation time rolls around.

Unfortunately it means not much time or energy for the horses.  A total bummer as I have camp with Carol right around the corner.  Oh well, it is what it is and I'll have fun regardless.

Thursday I wanted to play with Bleu and work on some saddle shimming.  She was reluctant to approach and then Dilbert, with a horsefly firmly attached to his butt, began chasing her up and down the run.  I think he wanted her to help him but charging at her like a bull in a china shop was not convincing my sweet Bleu that he was anything other than a raving lunatic.

So if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with - I haltered Cricket and took her out to graze in the paddock.  I did eventually catch Bleu and opted for a grazing session to "reward" her.  But back to Cricket . . .

I pulled up a chair and proceed to cut cookies - using my very expensive shoe pullers to nip cookies into small niblets for clicker training.  At the sound of the first cookie hitting the bottom of the bucket, a big dun mare lifted her head and made a beeline for me.

I had to laugh.  The cookie pieces are smaller than a penny.  And Cricket was standing on a lush carpet of relatively ungrazed, recently mowed grass.  Throughout the evening she'd practically crawl in my lap and then wander off but make a wide sweep and land right back at my feet.  I loved it.  I don't care if it was the cookies, it's been so long since I've seen that look on her face and I'll take it however I can get.

I packed everything up and tried to send Cricket back out to the paddock while I prepped feed.  Nothing doing.  She tried to get into the tack room, to Ed's cookies.  Then, while I was in the farthest stall retrieving feed buckets, she slipped into the barn to the picnic table where my cookies where.  So I sent her to her room until dinner time!

She makes me laugh and I love that I am able to find joy in her antics and that she is finding pleasure in my company.