Alys: It’s raining again.
Raudi: It’s raining again.
A: Didn’t rain yesterday.
R: Didn’t rain yesterday.
A: Rained the day before.
R: Rained the day before.
A: What’s with all the rain?
R: You’re asking me?
A: I’m asking you.
R: You should ask Tyra.
A: How is it that Tyra would know more than you?
R: Tyra pays attention to such things.

Raudi loves her hay

A: That she does. What do you pay attention to?
R: Food. How much, when it’s coming, who I have to share it with.
A: That all?
R: I’d pay attention to a foal if I had one.
A: You know how foals are conceived don’t you?
R: Yes.
A: And so you know that it, ahem, takes two to tango.
R: Yes.
A: And you know. . .
R: All I know is what all horses know, pretty basic stuff.
A: And you know why I am not breeding you.
R: I know why, but I don’t understand why.
A: I’ll make things clear. We have four horses on this property. Adding a fifth would be more work. We have an enclosure that’s half an acre. It’s not enough room as it is for four horses.
R: I’ve heard all this before. Why don’t we move somewhere where we’d have more pasturage?
A: I’ve been keeping my eye out for affordable property in the Lower 48. The problem is that places with unlimited trails are hard to come by. And now most areas are too hot in the summer for the likes of you.
R: We could live here in the summer and there in the winter.
A: This thought has crossed my mind. The problem is that I don’t think that Tinni could handle being transported any great distances more than once a year.
R: You could leave him here.
A: Bite your tongue. Tinni is one of the family.
R: But he’d like a bigger family.
A: Tinni, what do you have to say about this?
T: I have maybe one move in me, no more.
A: See?
R: I see.
A: Tinni, what do you think about our having a foal running around here?
T: I sure enjoyed it when Hrimmi was a foal. And I would not mind seeing maybe one, two, three more. The problem is the rain. It’s rained nearly every day for the past two months here. Alys, you have gotten hardly any riding in. If this keeps up, a foal will have a hard time of it.
R: It’ll soon be winter.
A: And dark and cold.
T: Really, Alaska is no place for a young foal.
Hrimmi: But I did just fine.
A: You would have done better if you’d been foaled in Colorado’s San Louis Valley.
H: It’s hard to say. I do like all the attention I get here.
R: Yes, we all like all the attention, but. . .
A: Well Raudi, it’s time to go for a ride.
R: A short ride please. I don’t want to miss dinner.

Next: 250. 9/12/22: Past, Present, and Future