Adjustments

About 18 months ago, I bought a horse - Kit. A big bay mare. A few months later another mare arrived to keep Kit company. Lady is a sorrel quarter horse. Horses are a lot of work, enjoyable, but time consuming and I am rarely at home. My husband isn't physically able to look after the horses effectively anymore so they are in the process of being sold.

Lady is on a two week probation with a local riding school. The owner is well versed in horses and Lady responded to her extremely well. This is the 2nd week of her trial, so I hope it works out for all of us.

That of course means Kit is on her own right now. She's adapted quite well to the single life again, but does have moments of crankiness and pacing. I'm sure she misses the equine company. I try to spend time with her and amuse her but I'm not quite the same as the four legged variety - unless I'm carrying goodies of course!

The problem is that I can't let Kit go until I'm sure Lady has a home. Lady is an alpha mare and was taken away from her foal abruptly. When she came to us, she adopted Kit as the substitute 'foal' and is not a happy camper AT ALL if Kit is out of sight. Kit on the other hand, doesn't give toss where Lady is most of the time. So I don't want to be in the situation where Lady comes back on her own. I think she would be a real handful then.

It will be odd not to have them around, but sometimes life does that to you and you have to accept it. As long as I know they have very good homes to go to, I will be content. I am as strict with potential buyers as if I were sending a child there and if I get even a hint of hesitation or the wrong answer about their stabling, feeding or treatment, then the person hasn't a chance in hell of getting the horse. I think I have a good intuitive sense of people and can see how they interact with the animals and the animals with them so I make my judgement from there.

Meanwhile, I'm working on a portrait of my eldest daughter. I'm deciding on composition right now and poses so have done a few sketches to see what works adn what doesn't. Here is a sample. Hopefully this weekend I'll made the final decision and start the portrait in earnest.



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