This is today.
☆ May 6, 2010
A Lot of Bull
☆ May 5, 2010
Let’s demystify the bull, shall we?
I don’t pretend to be an authority on animal behaviour; I’m not an expert. However, I have studied the animals with whom I directly interact and I am an expert on them. These animals include four adult bulls (not including Sir Baby, who looks positively miniature next to these guys).
Bulls have been given the reputation of villain, monster, evil beast with a
terrible temper, and it’s unfair. It maintains a certain mythology.
It is a stereotype.
While I’m sure mean bulls exist, the bulls I know are shy, sweet, gentle, and dear.
They move slowly around me. They never challenge me. If one or two get out and find a haystack in which to bury their enormous heads, all I need to do is sidle between them and the hay and they will turn back to the pasture gate I have opened behind them. They don’t smash me; they don’t toss me out of their way like a ragdoll in order to get more hay.
Testosterone does not make them mean.
Testosterone does not make an animal “become” mean!
Of the intact male animals I have known ~ be it feline, equine, bovine, canine ~ none have been mean animals. None have been mean to people. They are just really difficult to control when a cycling female is in the vicinity.
This is precisely why I castrated Frisco ~ I want him to be a working ox. I do not want him distracted by the cows or racing off to breed one while pulling me in a cart behind him. This is also the reason I neutered Charlie ~ so that he would not have to deal with the internal conflict of wanting to stay with his pack (us) and wanting to fulfill an urge to breed.
Bulls will fight eachother for breeding rights (as males of so many species will do), but during the rest of the year, when they are not with the cows or once the cows have all been bred, bulls live together harmoniously.
It’s not that bulls aren’t dangerous.
It’s that there’s a difference between dangerous and mean.
It’s that any animal this size can be dangerous if you don’t pay attention or let yourself end up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I consider Daisy as potentially dangerous as these bulls.
And I consider these bulls as inherently generous and good as Daisy.
So next time you see a bull, blow him a kiss, won’t you?
On the way to hay on a windy day ~
☆ May 1, 2010
The Horses: Mine
☆ April 27, 2010
Ranger is my horse. Quarterhorse. Nine. It’s difficult to see here, but the blaze on his face is the shape of a candle with flame. He’s not perfectly put together but has that disinterested confidence that makes him gorgeous. And he moves well. And his mane is the same color as my hair.
Ranger is solid. He’s ever-alert but I’ve never seen him frightened. He stepped on an empty plastic water bottle the other day (hey, litterbug!) and it popped like a gunshot and he walked on without so much as a twitch. He saunters into trailers and plows through streams and swamps, heads straight down the steepest of draws and up the other side without pause. This is, probably, only remarkable to those who’ve been with a horse who spooks at everything. I’ll describe that in detail when I get to Flicka.
Ranger is cool. He was never mean to the older horses, Houdini and Sunshine, when they all lived together. Now Ranger and Flicka and Kota have their own pasture; the three of them do well together and have similar levels of energy and attitude. Kota thinks he’s god’s gift but he’s no match for Ranger, who simply ignores him; this delivers a greater blow to Kota’s ego than any bite or kick could do. Flicka flirts up a storm with Kota and takes him to the corners to make out, but Ranger is her rock.
Ranger is perfect, for me. I trust him completely yet he challenges me, and this is my perfect combination in any partner. This is why my best friend and I have stayed tight for eighteen years, and why I love Mike the way I do (although this is pretty nice, too….) I ride Ranger with my eyes closed. I let him carry me home in the dark. I can push myself to become better, with him, and I know that he will push me, too. And because of all that ~ the trust and the work and the surrender and the growth ~ sometimes just walking a familiar path together fulfills everything.
Snow White Sleeping Beauty
☆ April 25, 2010
Princess Daisy.
Books make her sleepy.
Daisy joined me one year ago, yesterday!
Amazing.
She is such a character, and has such a presence,
it seems she has been part of my life for much longer than a year.
Did you know cows curled up like this?!!? So darling.
It still makes me laugh every time I see them in this pose.
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