Unreal. Tomorrow Raudhetta fra Alaskastadir will be 20 years old. I purchased her when she was eight months old. I instead wanted her mother, Gergen (Bootlegger), but we could not afford her. A good thing because as I was to learn, Gergen was a willful horse.

As Gergen was willful, so was Raudi’s sire, Vikengur. There was really no roll of the genetic dice for Raudi. She got both her parent’s willful genes. I would not call her stubborn, because this would imply that she was unwilling to do certain things. I would call her willful because she has always wanted to do things her way.

The hardest thing of all to teach her was to go for walks with me. She took off on me for years. I didn’t use a rope halter on her because I didn’t want to cause her pain. I learned early on that force, coercion, punishment was not going to work. The only avenue to follow, and I took it, was that of positive reinforcement. We both ended up educating one another.

Raudi's forth birthday

She became a bomber trail horse. This past fall she hit a tree with her butt and lodged a stick in her thigh. She then began bucking, which she only does if something is really amiss. I came off and she ran off with Ryder. Shadow stayed with me. Raudi and I both took a long time to heal.

I got Tinni when he was 19, and I considered him to be an old horse. Raudi has led an easier life, so she is physically younger than Tinni was at that age. Now if Raudi also lives to be 33, this means that we’ll have 13 more good years together. I’ll take it. I just hope that we can get a few more lengthy trips in.

I guess if you have a dream, then you have to act upon it. Otherwise, it’s just one of many ideas.

Tomorrow I am heading north, in the morning. However, as we have done in previous years, I’ll take her to the driveway’s end and Pete will take the yearly photo. We have photos that now go back 16 years. In the early photos, Raudi looks very young, and I look somewhat younger.

If I could give Raudi anything, it would be what I’d give to all my horses, access to more pasturage. I saw a video the other day, of horses running on Andrea Brodie’s property, and I thought, this is what I’d like for my mares. In fact, I would part with them all if I knew that this might be a reality for them.

I do recall Siggi and Raudi hanging out in the pasture at Andrea’s place. They liked having room to move around although they didn’t race around much. They may have been tired from their trip south.

Spring is in the air but not on the ground. The snow is mushy, the road surface like lard. Things could change radically in the next few weeks.

Next: 103. 4/14/23: Under the Volcano