The Smell Of A Horse

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by Ralph Galeano

Full column word count 626

 

     The smell of a horse.  I like it.  I don’t know many people that don’t.  The aroma is something special on a cool morning when you slip your hand under their mane to feel the warmth of their neck. It warms your soul as well as your hands.  That’s when a sniff of horseflesh makes you feel alive and anxious to get started with the new day.

     Walk into a corral with a few horses and chances are you’ll stop and look them over.  If you get a welcoming whinny, it can start your day off right.  A few soft strokes on the talker’s forehead rewards both you and the horse.  It may be a ritual between you and a familiar horse, or if it’s a stranger, you feel double good because it’s the start of a friendship with somebody you’d like to know better.  Walk behind him and stand off the side of his hip.  Watch his eye and see if it’s a soft one.  He can see you back there.  His eye will roll around in its orbit and watch you watch him.  Does that eye open wide and come to attention?  If his neck stiffens and he moves his hip away or fidgets nervously, he doesn’t trust you behind him and you better pay a little more respect to his hind end.

  

A look at a horseman’s relation with horses.  Respect, courtesy and kindness are rewarded by your horses willingness to do your bidding while you're on their back.  Is it affection your horse shows when your picking his hooves and he nibbles on that little red tag on the back of your Levis?

 

 

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