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It was a lovely summer's evening and I was looking forward to sitting quietly at the riding stables whilst my daughter went out hacking with her Pony Club group.
The location is ideal for a quiet sit in the evening; lots of lovely wide open spaces, fields filled with grazing horses and ponies, a quiet country lane running alongside - very little to spoil the peace. I take these opportunities to write my diary, do paperwork, or get acquainted with the horses on site.
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As the riders left, I gathered up my books and car keys and went to sit where I could look out across the fields to the town beyond. Now, on this particular evening there was a loose horse on the grass that surrounds the arena. That is not unusual, and she was a friendly thing, coming up to greet me where I sat and popping her nose on my shoulder as if she was reading my notes! I chatted to her for a while, and then asked her to move. She did - she moved to my other side, nuzzled the car keys and jacket I had beside me on the table and rested her nose on my shoulder again. I stood up and ambled toward the field to greet the horses in there. My new friend followed me and stood beside me at the fence, nudging my hand gently. As I wandered down the length of the fence, she followed. How sweet.
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However, I had work to do, so I returned to my work and opened my books.....There she was, at my side, nose on my shoulder once more. I brushed her away. No problem! She reappeared on my other side and plonked her nose on the other shoulder! This was not getting my work done! I decided to seek refuge in the little cabin that serves as an office and classroom - to access this cabin you walk thro' a narrow gap between the cabin side and a wall, and then step up onto a steep concrete ramp and turn a sharp right thro' the cabin door. This manoeuvre I duly made, and sat with my back to the door.
The shuffling noise must have escaped my ear, but the sound of a hoof on the concrete ramp certainly did not! I turned to find the pony (and she is not a small one, I might add!) with her head thro' the open cabin door and her rear end wedged between the wall and the cabin side. One thing was for sure - I would not be making a getaway through the doorway. She then attempted to step fully inside the cabin, but I realised that the full weight of her would result in her crashing through the cabin floor, so eased her gently out of the doorway, back down the ramp and back onto the grass; but she was having none of it, and merely pushed forward to attempt re-entering the cabin. I was not going to move her this way, so I squeezed past her head and shoulders(which were once more filling the doorway!), turned right out of the door, steered her up and over the side of the concrete ramp and then led her all the way around the back of the cabin and back to the arena so that she would follow me! The remainder of the evening she spent standing beside me, her nose resting on one or another of my shoulders. I got no work done since my books were still in the cabin and I couldn't risk a repeat performance of her following me in there! So I just did a little 'horse-whispering' with my new friend, and awaited the return of the riders. I just hope nobody asks me how the perfect imprint of a single horseshoe on the floor of the cabin got there........
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