Of dogs and ponies

Those of you who know me, know that my favorite breed of dog is the Border Collie.  I love everything about them—their intelligence, their work ethic, the way they look and move, the close bond they form with their person, and their unbelievable energy. I have a lot in common with Border Collies.  I love to be busy, don’t do well with idle time, and my mind is always going.  This is great for me, and my interactions with my two Border Collies, but can be more challenging for those around me who don’t operate on the same high frequency.  

Take my three horses, for instance.  Sid, my Standardbred, is happiest when he gets worked no more than 3 or 4 days a week.  If I try to work him more than that, he responds by simply walking away from me in the pasture.  Monarch, my Thoroughbred, would love to be worked every day.  He is a lot like a Border Collie—intelligent, sensitive, great work ethic.  And he acts out when he doesn’t get enough work.  

And then there’s Simon.  As we have been struggling with some soundness issues with him, (strained check ligament, abscess, some arthritis issues), I have been struggling with not super-imposing my needs and work ethic on him.  Simon is 22 now, and has had a very active career, mostly with other people.  I asked him yesterday what he wants—does he want to be retired?  He let me know that he isn’t ready to retire yet, but that winters are hard for him in this climate, so her would really like to have winters off.  This will be a hard one for me—I am a firm believer in keeping older horses moving as much as possible, to keep them limber.  Also, riding is something that I really need to help me get through the winter, and I find the prospect of trying to get an older horse back into condition in the spring after a winter off to be daunting.  

But we’ll try it.  Simon will have the rest of this winter off (yes it’s still winter here—below zero this morning), and we’ll see how he does over the summer.  And if he decides that it’s time to retire, that’s what we’ll do.  This old dog is trying to learn a new trick.