- Having dealt with way too many worries in the past few
weeks, Gwen the Beautiful and I decided to make a positive, life-affirming
move.
-
- As in bringing something new and young and vibrant to
The Mountain.
-
- Like a new horse.
-
- Huck the Spotless Appaloosa is about 11 years old now,
and his gal, Elaine the Not So Wild Mustang, is 20. Huck may not possess
all the equipment of a stallion, but he's always had the attitude. He's
the kind of guy who gives real meaning to the "proud" in the
farm saying "proud cut," so we knew he'd be happy if we added
a young mare to the family.
-
- The universe was on our side on this one. No sooner had
Gwen and I agreed to start searching then we saw a flyer at Paradise Market
advertising two mares for sale. One was a registered Arabian, too rich
for our blood even in this time of lowered horse prices.
-
- (Paradise's First Law of Equine Economics: When the hay
costs go up, the horse costs go down. Think of it as inverse supply-and-demand.)
-
- The other was a 6-year-old sorrel who, in her picture,
looked a lot like Huck, except that her blaze was narrower, and she had
white stockings on her hind legs. And the price was, more or less, right.
-
- I called the number on the flyer, and the next day Gwen
and I drove over, under and through some territory we'd never been in before
and found ourselves at the woodsy cabin owned by George and Rachel, a young
couple whose love of horses was so great that they'd gotten in over their
heads and needed to sell a couple so they could spend their money on something
else, like, as Rachel put it: "Groceries. Yep, groceries would be
nice."
-
- Gwen and I went into the pasture to meet Rosie, who did
indeed look like Huck but on a much smaller scale - 12 hands high to Huck's
17. She was as quiet and easy to get along with as she was petite, and
when I talked to her, she winked at me, which made it a done deal after
a little obligatory haggling.
-
- Twenty-four hours later, Rosie was in our corral, Huck
trumpeting his glee while Elaine looked on patiently. Rosie didn't hesitate.
She rushed to Huck and presented her hindquarters in true horse come hither
fashion.
-
- Huck snorted and squealed and reared, and Rosie snorted
and squealed and swished her tail, and then the two of them were off, running
together like foals, playing the mating game that Huck always has loved
even though - as far as I know, and Elaine's not saying - he's never brought
it to a conclusion.
-
- Huck and Rosie raced around all day, but when I brought
out the evening meal everything changed. I put the hay out in three piles,
but Huck snapped at Rosie and forced her back, away from all of them, while
he and Elaine ate together. And when Rosie went for water, Huck raced to
beat her to it, snapping to keep her away from that as well.
-
- "Uh-oh," Gwen said. "Looks like we've
got a problem."
-
- Huck turned to her and whinnied. "No problem. Not
at all. I just have to let her know the rules."
-
- "What is this?" I said. "A fraternity?"
-
- "What's a fraternity?" Huck said.
-
- "A band of brothers, with the older ones coming
down hard on the younger ones so they'll appreciate it more when they finally
let them be."
-
- "Rosie's no brother," Huck said. "But
what you're saying sounds right to me. I'll make a fine sister out of her,
you'll see." And he whirled and snapped at Rosie's shoulder and again
gave chase.
-
- Throughout this past week, Huck's continued his hazing,
lightening up just a little bit every day. Rosie drinks when she wants
now, and each horse eats its own pile of hay, except when Huck decides
to munch on Rosie's. At which point she just moseys over and eats his.
-
- All under Elaine's patient gaze.
-
- Oh, there's been one other change. Burl Sr., the Farmer
of the Year, came over this morning. "New mare?" he said about
Rosie.
-
- "Just got her," I said.
-
- "Looks like you got two for the price of one,"
Burl Sr. said.
-
- "What?" said Gwen.
-
- "Look at that full, round belly. That little mare's
in foal."
-
- Talk about a life-affirming move.
-
-
- Copyright C 2007 by Larry Brody. All rights reserved.
-
- Author Larry Brody's weekly column, LIVE! FROM PARADISE!
appears on his website, www.larrybrody.com. He has written thousands of
hours of network television, and is the author of "Television Writing
from the Inside Out" and "Turning Points in Television."
Brody is Creative Director of The Cloud Creek Institute for the Arts, the
world's first in-residence media colony. More about his activities can
be seen on www.tvwriter.com and www.cloudcreek.org. He welcomes your comments
and feedback at LarryBrody@cloudcreek.org. Brody, his wife and their dogs,
cats, horses and chickens live in Marion County, Arkansas. The other residents
of the mythical town of Paradise reside in his imagination.
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