This morning Rebecca, who purchased our two horse Sundowner trailer, arrived bright and early to claim her new acquisition. I cleaned the horse enclosure while Pete assisted her in doing the paperwork and hitching the trailer to her truck. She was as excited about getting her new trailer as we were about getting our new trailer.

As I was finishing up, Mariann Stoffel arrived, and together, we checked out the new three horse trailer. I refrained from looking behind me, at the departing old trailer, because I really didn’t want to part company with it. It’s small, compact, a very good unit. But that’s

life. You have five horses; you have to make some sacrifices. Out with the old and in with the new. The horses are going to be very comfortable traveling in what my friend Heather calls “a horse bus.”

Mariann brought over zucchini starts and a bag full of goodies for me – new socks, rice crackers, and some chocolates. I gave her two buckets of hand sifted compost and told her I have more available if she wants it. Now that I think about it, I should offer to assist her in building her own pile. She has three horses and many, many chickens.

After Rebecca left, we sat in our kitchen and ate dehydrated fruit and drank tea. As we talked, I forced myself not to think about all that needs to be done before we are to leave, and instead focused on listening to my friend talk. Everyone has a story – Mariann has many, many stories. Like many who live in Alaska, she’s moved around a great deal. A bum knee has recently slowed her down, but she’s getting it taken care of soon.

In the afternoon, I went over to see how Skjoni was doing. I wanted to do some groundwork with him, but his 10 year old owner, Trillium, was eager to ride. So I first got on him. He’s a really nice horse – I think he’s had a hard time of it in the past few years. His teeth are bugging him, and he needs to have his feet trimmed.

I was dismayed to find a price tag on the saddle that came with Skjoni. It was going for $80.00. Does this mean that the former owners threw in what was available? This is a mystery to me – his bridle and bit are top quality. Skjoni also has (I think) a back injury. His owners, I am sure, will take care of all this.

But working with Skjoni got me thinking – being a horse in this day and age is a real crapshoot. You just don’t know who you are going to end up with, or how you are doing to be treated. My heart aches for those who get less than stellar treatment.

I have, it seems, spent the last ten years learning as much as I can about horse care. What’s this mean? I’ve decided that the best I can do is take good care of my own horses. And the second best thing that I can do is be an advocate for those horses who being cared for by others. Like it or not, this is now a big chunk of my life’s work.

Next: 143: 5/23/13: The (yoga) day Progresses