Time With My Horses

Dear Pasture Horses: I know you’re probably all wondering why I have been spending so much more time out here in your paradise with all eight of you. You're all probably wondering why I sit on the ground and watch as you scrub the flowers and the grass with your lips, and push each other with your gentle noses, camera in my lap, holding it for hours as I listen to the bees hum in the mustard flower. Well there’s this thing that’s been happening among the humans called a Corona Virus that has changed us humans forever. As a result, life as we know has basically shut down. So all that time that I used to spend commuting, sitting in my office at the University, meeting students in my office? I have been freed of. A lot of my human responsibilities have moved in front of a computer screen. And, as a result, Lucky you guys! 
 

I now have time to stop and breathe and watch you enjoy your thirty acres on the hillside overlooking Silicon Valley. I don’t have to spend hours commuting, sitting in traffic, parking, driving here or there...one of the blessings of this virus is my time with you.
 

Just so you know, I feel so fortunate to have you all to smell, to feel, to listen to. I love it when you grab my camera scrap, or try to wrestle the hair clip out of my hair, or slobber on my T-shirt. I could listen to you munch on hay for hours. Even though only two of you belong to me, I still adore each of you. 
 

And I want to just say thank you for trusting me among you and allowing me to sit for hours watching you exist as a herd. As an aging three-day eventer myself, it’s helpful to perfect my eye as I watch each one of you move, perhaps one of you dragging a back foot or taking a funny step or another limping a little bit as you walk up the hill. Each day, I have the time now to notice how your bodies react to the night weather or to the increasing summer heat, or to the play sessions that make my heart race to watch you chase each other and play. Like us humans, I know for us both, especially as we age, that motion is lotion. I love it that you have this space, your friends, this life. I love it that you allow me to move them on you and show me affection the way you would show each other, and I’m just so at peace having this time to wrap my arms around your grass-filled necks and bury my head in your mane. 
 

I count my time with all of you one of my many virus blessings.