The Great Stallion of Mecca

My Arabian Prince has been locked up in his stall for several days, mostly due to the wind and the rain. The chill in the air seems to really set horses off--they really want to MOVE. Since he is still recovering from a bruise he got at the Pierce College Equestrian Center in December, I can't really turn him loose in an arena--he bound to bruise himself again. Instead, I took him for a walk on a lead line.

He clearly was happy to get out. He is usually a very calm walker, but he was pulling on the lead and dancing a very elevated trot as we walked. He wanted to run, but he was hampered. We walked over to the area where the hunter/jumper show barn is on the property and he was quite interested in the horses which were getting ready to take a trail ride (all of the arenas are drying out from yesterday's downpour.) That's when things got very interesting.

Ace decided that he needed to let the other horses know who was the best looking animal on the ranch. It wasn't enough that the riders were impressed with how pretty and how clean he was. (I can't take credit for him being clean--he hates being wet and he doesn't like to roll in the mud. And he sure doesn't like to get his feet wet.) He started dancing around me with his tail straight in the air and along with that is a move that makes him look really big. He has amazing presence. Then he makes himself absolutely as big as he can, with is four legs firmly planted, his head high, his ears forward, and along comes the snort--the noise of the Great Stallion of Mecca. Look at me! Attention must be paid! It's in those moments that I realize how much power is in those 940 pounds. It's very impressive.

Then I have to laugh and point out to him that he's lost the parts to actually be the Great Stallion of Mecca. He can very much be my King of the Wind without those parts but he's got to get his brain focused back on me and not on the four horses that have gone off down the hill to get to the trail head. I had him dancing a well-suspended, collected trot around me for a few more minutes as we headed back toward his stall. What really brought him back to earth, though, was the opportunity to mow some nice green grass. After a little graze, he was just fine.

Of course, when I took him back to his stall is when I discovered the drowned squirrel in his water bucket. Ugh. Fortunately, there was nothing in his automatic waterer, so I assume he was drinking from that. So now the score is 4 rats and 1 squirrel. Can't wait to see what else falls in to his water when the weather gets better and more animals are around.