My old man

No, no, not Tony.

Kandeaux has never wintered well. Each year he gets older and older and each spring he is skinnier and skinnier. The vet was out and gave him a clean bill of health, all but the fact that he's loosing his teeth. So since they don't make equine dentures, Deb (who owns the stable) has put him on some different feed and has been hand grazing him in the field. He is in good hands. There was a day when I would have been out there caring for him myself, but six children later...

But today I was able to get out there and see him. We groomed him until I thought my arms were going to fall off. And he munched on the lush grass the whole time. The warm wind kept the bugs away and the temperature couldn't have been more perfect. I sat in the field, watching him graze, while the kids played with the cats and jumped over ground poles. I wanted to stay right there all day.

There was a day when that big, open field would be but a blur as I galloped across it. Ok, ok, loped. Cantered, at best. Kandeaux never galloped for me, well, not on purpose. As soon as I let the reins go, the bucking began. But let's just say for story's sake that I was going moderately fast across the big, open field. Forget the helmet, forget the saddle, just the feel of the wind whipping through my hair.

All right, enough of that. Those days are over. I'm an old lady now, and he's an old horse. But it was plenty refreshing enough just to spend a few hours at the barn.