Barn and the horse mystery
I did a little dithering when I first arrived at the barn, and when I finally went outside, Mitzi was standing at the gate in a posture that indicated she'd been waiting for me for some time. I realize a lot of this is the confident expectation of treats, but it's still nice. As Kennie's dad says in My Friend Flicka, it's a fine thing to have a horse for a friend.
I understand we're getting a new boarder, a Standardbred, but no sign yet.
The nice old man gelding I referred to the other day is looking much less unkempt lately--he had been muddy for a long time in the fall, which must have made him feel the cold (his coat was all matted down.) Now he has a fine blue-and-purple blanket and his coat is clean and fluffy. (The nice thing about snow is, the wallowers just wallow themselves clean.)
I refer occasionally to the abandoned horsey mystery and the idea of reviving it someday. Now is not the day, but I'd like to bring it back for Ty, the Texan sidekick, one of my favourite characters. The narrator of that story, Tracy, was very much the Everywoman character, but I had a lot of fun with Ty, a young man who had moved to the frozen North (PEI) for the adventure and was not above playing up his Texanisms for his own amusement. He has, for instance, almost limitless relatives, many of whom Tracy suspects he makes up to illustrate his little stories.
[I did have trouble with a few American editorial readers who objected to Ty's occasional political jokes. "I thought Texans all loved Dubya!" Yeah, uh, don't say that to any of the actual Texans I worked with.]
I was pleased with how Ty turned out in the final draft even though other aspects of that story were a mess. But I also have to confess, I also like the main horse characters, including Tracy's palomino quarter horse, Cody. And a pair of Holsteiners, a brother-sister act named Aachen and Gestalt. Everyone at the barn, though mostly behind their owner's back, calls them Achoo and Gesundheit. I... I'm ashamed to admit it, but to this day I find those names funny.
Yeah, maybe one day. Not, however, today.
I understand we're getting a new boarder, a Standardbred, but no sign yet.
The nice old man gelding I referred to the other day is looking much less unkempt lately--he had been muddy for a long time in the fall, which must have made him feel the cold (his coat was all matted down.) Now he has a fine blue-and-purple blanket and his coat is clean and fluffy. (The nice thing about snow is, the wallowers just wallow themselves clean.)
I refer occasionally to the abandoned horsey mystery and the idea of reviving it someday. Now is not the day, but I'd like to bring it back for Ty, the Texan sidekick, one of my favourite characters. The narrator of that story, Tracy, was very much the Everywoman character, but I had a lot of fun with Ty, a young man who had moved to the frozen North (PEI) for the adventure and was not above playing up his Texanisms for his own amusement. He has, for instance, almost limitless relatives, many of whom Tracy suspects he makes up to illustrate his little stories.
[I did have trouble with a few American editorial readers who objected to Ty's occasional political jokes. "I thought Texans all loved Dubya!" Yeah, uh, don't say that to any of the actual Texans I worked with.]
I was pleased with how Ty turned out in the final draft even though other aspects of that story were a mess. But I also have to confess, I also like the main horse characters, including Tracy's palomino quarter horse, Cody. And a pair of Holsteiners, a brother-sister act named Aachen and Gestalt. Everyone at the barn, though mostly behind their owner's back, calls them Achoo and Gesundheit. I... I'm ashamed to admit it, but to this day I find those names funny.
Yeah, maybe one day. Not, however, today.