Do you think horses in training get homesick?
I do. And some of them have told me so in our conversations. But then again, I guess it depends on the horse and their personality. Like kids: some can never go to camp, period, because they get so homesick. And others would like to live there.
Last week I went with my friend Cindy on her obligatory weekly jaunt to work with her 2-year-old filly, Nova, at a horse trainer’s where Nova is spending a few weeks to get some basic etiquette and moves under her belt. Our impression upon arrival was that Nova was listless and kind of depressed and had NO idea what she was doing in this place.
Homesick? I don’t know. It was not my place to tune in with Nova and ask her. But she sure didn’t seem particularly happy, so maybe missing Cindy and her goat and dog buddies, with whom she is very bonded, were why. Cindy and I are going to pick her up in a couple of days, and we can’t wait to get her back home!
Right now I can relate. Having moved to NM two years ago from the Texas Hill Country — not in small part to escape the ferocious heat and humidity which seems to prevail there at least half the year — I’m still getting used to the fact that our spring here arrives about two months after what I am used to. Now don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t go back, and I thrive on this climate of dry coolnth, wonderful snows in the winter, and fabulous summers where I don’t even need air conditioning.
But it’s March 31st, and everything where I used to live is, I know for a fact, so green it puts your eyes out, and there is literally no place more beautiful in the early spring than the Texas Hill Country.
So right now I’m homesick. My Texas friends have been raving about the beauty this spring, after their horrendous drought finally broke and Mother Nature gave them a real winter with lots of rain and cold. They are carrying on in glowing terms about the glorious wildflowers and the fantastic temperatures. So it’s a record-breaking-beautiful spring there and, as I sit here with a fairly high chance of yet another snow tomorrow evening, all I can think about is my Texas ranch.
No, I still would not trade places. And am willing to wait for my iris bulbs to bloom in another month or so (they bloomed by mid-February in Austin!), the fragrant lilac bushes all around the house to come out, and the beds of beautiful perennial flowers to unfurl their little fronds and smile at me.
But right now . . . sob! I miss that gorgeous Texas ranch with its rolling meadows, craggy hills, huge oaks, all-weather creek that my horses could swim in at will, and the 200-year-old pecan and walnut trees next to it. I even miss the huge wild boar who regularly traversed my riding arena. I must say, that ranch is one of the most beautiful places on earth.And I was blessed to live on it for eight years.
I’m glad I moved. I love this high desert climate. I’m much less isolated and have many more kindred-spirit friends close by. And my animals and I are thriving here. I just had to share my homesickness . . . and a few pictures of my Texas ranch. Maybe the lesson for me is that I need to go to Texas every March or April to see my friends and to soak up the magic of its unsurpassed springtime!
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