Tinni accompanied me, Signy, Peaches, Ranger, Rover, and Jenna on our morning walk. We all enjoyed ourselves. Signy, off lead, waited when I went to walk with Tinni, who was momentarily in slo-mo. Today, Rover did not push into me. I guess he got yesterday’s message.

I was left to exercise Raudi and Siggi this afternoon. At midday, when feeding, I fell down and twistd my ankle. It’s sore on one side. Undeterred I decided to take Mr. Siggi for a walk.

I forgot – Mr. Siggi does not like to go out by himself, and he does not like being taken from his hay. And so he pitched a fit 200- or-so- yards distant from the gate. He squealed, bucked, pulled the line out of my hand, and galloped back up into the yard.

I used to get really, really pissed about this kind of behavior. I’d yell and scream,

Siggi's 5th birthday

and call him Crowbait, after declaring to Pete that he wouldn’t even make for good dog food. This time, I walked back to where he was standing, picked up the rope, and calmly led him back down the driveway. Off we again went. He jumped around some, but this time I held onto him up closer to his halter. It was a nice walk. Siggi was a little jumpy, but not too bad.

On the final stretch I let him go, and threw myself down in the snow. Siggi came over to me and touched my leg. This was an accomplishment, considering how our walk started.

Like Rover, Siggi is here to teach me something. I don’t yet have a clue as to what this might be. Maybe patience. Or acceptance. This is what I do know. Siggi has funky conformation, but a soul that shines brighter than all the rest. I’m glad he lives here, and that he’s so easy to get along with.

I also rode Raudi. She’s getting bored with the same old winter same old. So at the end, as I did with Siggi, I gave her the come command from the ground. Seemed to me like the spark in her eyes returned when we did this. I’ll have to come up with a few more games. Too bad I can’t get the horses each their own Ipad. This way, they could while away the final month of winter by playing the Cat in the Hat game.

Next: 85. 3/2/12: Raudi’s Book