Equestrian Theater
Starring Chicory in I Want Out.
Ah . . . Spring. Subtle flute music plays in the background amidst the chirping birdies and fluttering butterflies. The tender green shoots of grass are bursting forth from their earthy slumber. The rains have come and everything smells clean and green.
I stand outside the barn scratching Chicory, who has almost completely shed out, but still has plenty of those crazy-making itchies. Mind you, it wasn’t so very many days ago that we could have knitted some cozy little chihuahua sized sweaters, from the fur I was pulling off him.
We quietly enjoy the warmth of the sunlight and the gentle breezes. He looks wistfully out to the pasture, of which he has been denied access to, since December.
A thought comes to him. (I could see the wheels turning) He looks at me and nickers softly. I look him in the eye, silently questioning. He looks out to the pasture, pauses a moment, then looks back me. I continue to scratch him, but don’t move. He waits for a moment, then swings his head s-l-o-w-l-y back to look at the pasture. He holds a little longer than before, then looks back at me. I smile placidly and continue to pet him. The words, “Whats that Lassie? Timmy’s stuck in the well!” roll through my head.
Chicory sighs deeply, his frustration at my apparent dull-wittedness is obvious. Since I am failing to comprehend what it is that he wants, he decides to take it to the next level with charades. He steps away from me and walks over to the gate. Makes eye contact again, then tosses his head dramatically over the gate leading to the pasture. This time he doesn’t look back at me, but rolls his eye over to see if I am paying attention. I think if he could have pantomimed the unlocking of the gate, he would have.
I walk over and pat him. “Sorry big guy, You’ll have to wait another week or two before I can turn you out.” He drops his head, and again sighs deeply. I would like to think he understands my meaning. But truthfully, I think he is just resigning himself to the fact that his human is a complete and utter idiot.
Oh poor Chicory!
A fantastic description of your “conversation”!
Just out of interest, why does he have to wait?
Thats a good question, that perhaps I should have addressed.
He has to wait until the grass grows out a bit more, and also the ground is still too soft. His hooves would tear up the new growth and ruin the pasture. So in order to enjoy it 8 months out of the years, he has to give it time to be flush enough to withstand him.
Hi again, Mona. Wonderful description of Chicory’s thoughts. You are good to your pastures. I do half hay and half pasture, even in the summer. Not as good to the pastures as you are. I have a twenty-four year old leopard app gelding that I got when he was nine. I used to ride him every day, but don’t ride him right now(my problem, not his). He is enjoying being the boss of his harem — my friend’s two barrel racing mares, a pinto and an appendix sorrel, as well as my three year ago pasture ornament acquisitions, a leopard POA who had a buckskin/gruella baby after she came here who is now going on three years old.
Yes, I have posted some on wet canvas. Need to do alot more work though. I have posted the leopard POA in the Feb. monthly challenge and just posted the pinto, but she needed alot of correction which I hope to repost today or tomorrow. Happy painting and spring weather. Angela
Hi Angela,
I like to be able to keep him on fresh stuff as long as possible. He gets fat on hay. We used to have sheep so we had to have good pasture management. At the moment he usually has more than he can consume all growing season, if I don’t put him out to early.
I will definatley get over to wet canvas to check it out. I’ve been meaning to look around a bit. Haven’t been to the site in years. Great group, just never enough time.
Hello again Angela, Just a quick note to say I checked out wet canvas. (actually I spent a couple of hours looking around. A nice community.) I am a member, but Lord only knows what my password is. It has been so long that I wasn’t even sure I had become a member until I checked. So anyway couldn’t as of yet post a comment there. I hope you don’t mind me doing it here.
Anyway, I like your horse portrait. I think your handling of the black mane part on the pinto is quite nice. The eyes are excellent! I like the addition of the green in the backgound, though I perhaps would have raised the line up to somewhere between the bottom of the ear and it’s current location.
So is this one of your horses or perhaps your friends pinto?
Hi, Mona — thanks for looking. She is my friend’s pinto. Thanks for taking the time to look and comment. I got quite a few comments on the equine art guild site where I posted for the first time — I am still going to make one more round of corrections– based on quite a few additional suggestions at the EAG, so I can incorporate your background suggestion as well- and repost her sometime within the next week on wet canvas and EAG, along with the reference photo, this time. I am currently working on a portrait of the sorrel barrel horse.
Thanks again for looking, I DO NOT EXPECT YOU TO DO THAT– I know puter time can really rack up. I am going to put myself on a schedule so as not to spend too much time on the puter. By the way, my brother’s boys gave my friend and I a Nintendo Game Cube when he bought them a Wii (sp?) a couple of Christmases ago — we love Medal of Honor and we have more than twelve years on you!!! I don’t know how you can take a break and not get carried away with the game. We don’t play so much now — need more games or a newer system, LOL. I will be visiting here regularly to see what you are up to. Happy Painting and Happy Spring, Angela
As to the looking thing, you posted a horse painting online, and it’s an oil pastel to boot, just try to stop me from looking.
Mature Women Gamers Unite! We hit the used games places like Gamestop. However even there Game Cube games are almost non-existant. Glad I have my PS2. But it’s days for getting games are also numbered.