Horse Illustrated Magazine

I recently horse-sat for my friend Debby. She has three horses on her property. They live out full-time, so the daily routine is pretty low maintenance: I let the horses out on the big field to graze in the morning, and I brought them into the “diet” paddock at night, since they’re all easy keepers. They got a little supplemental feed that Debby refers to as a “no thank you” serving. And that was it! I checked and refilled the water trough and added hoof cleaning and fly spray and a little groom time in as well. I miss all those little horse chores. Fortunately everyone stayed in one piece and it was a fun little gig.

While the horse care was no problem, I was a little worried about keeping up with the garden since I have a brown thumb, but since it rained every day the watering was pretty much taken care of for me. These pretty peonies bloomed and were so gorgeous that I sent Debby a picture so she wouldn’t miss out.

When I used to leave my horse Ted in the care of his special “aunties” at the boarding facility, there was always a long list of emergency contacts, plus his schedule full of blankets, turnout and exercise, wraps and boots, not to mention the half-dozen supplements and feed that I measured and pre-bagged ahead of time. In his golden years, Ted required quite a bit of TLC, but I really enjoyed having that time with him. There’s something so special about those oldies.

Although there was a lot to do to prepare for my absence, once I was on my way, I never worried about Ted’s care. With Colleen, Corinne, Shelly and Daria looking out for him, I knew he was in good hands.  Good barn buddies are priceless, and I was glad to be able to help Debby out with her horses.

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