Gee - how I love this horse, and all the others. Waiting to get back and begin again...
…Leporello
Night was setting when I came to the stables for late hay and last paddock changes. A beautiful Sunday evening in June. Leporello in the paddock. From that paddock he had been sending me messages all day long. In fact, has he not been trying for days to tell me something?
Leporello spent the last winter out in the field. There he was the head of a mixed group of mares, in this group 'his' yearling. The positive result of a winter season outdoors was the dearly due improvement of his condition and 'go'. Now, the winter long passed, the yearling finally weaned, the group is still inside awaiting further action. Training for Leporello has not begun.
Putting on the halter, opening the fence, leading the horse throught, turning, closing the fence, walking towards the box - all normal. But then a sudden stop. Rooted. It dawned on me that this horse was not going to enter his box for that night. Not unless I put the saddle he was exhorting with quick shifts of his upper lip on his back and got on.
Here was the comittement I had hoped for, that in fact I had asked of him without fully realizing it, his offer to carry me, to be at my command without restriction, freely and liberally. And a transcending declaration of love and understanding, of… you shall know, as you are known….
And so I took the soft saddle, put it on his back and mounted. Night had fallen. In the light of a half-moon illuminating the dark blue sky I rode this horse, this prince, this messenger of another world.
Leporello is our third foal of Lucy. His mother an English thoroughbred mare, his father Arabian of original Egyptian descent, he is a product of the two ‘noble races' in horse breeding. He was Lucy's last living foal. Had he been a mare I would not have stopped breeding horses.
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