Czech Valentine, Cavalry Wannabe

The morning started in a literal fog from fresh rain. It was thick enough that dropping the kids at school, I couldn't see the street I was turning into until I was half turned. The barn wasn't visible at all from the yard and my boots protested my attempts to move them with my feet through the sticky mud.

Laundry, dishes, barn, chickens, and bathrooms got checked off my list and Christmas costumes for tonight's play were laid out long before the sun came up. After a few attempts to get my trailer hooked on, I was ready to sneak Czech off on an adventure before school let out.

As we got closer to the battlefields, the fog burned off into a Caribbean blue sky determined to chase away the black jagged clouds that headed north.

Czech tacked perfectly, his gaze and ears fixed on the sound of the church bells ringing the hour from across acres. Once on his back, he became a massive horse that moved lighter than air and we were headed down trail.

Deeper into the woods, we find it feels eerily occupied. Maybe it's the suggestion already in your mind of all the people and horses who died on this land. Maybe it's the bits of fog that lingered in patches under trees. Maybe it was just the perfect quiet when you notice things like scattered feathers from a nighttime catch that tells you that animals are here, though you can't hear a thing no matter how hard you try.

Whether the ghosts are real or only living in my imagination, Czech isn't bothered in the least. An old friend told me once that horses have no fear of these type things because they are closer to the spirit world than we are so they understand it and with understanding fear goes away. Why my horse would be okay with the other world but loses his mind if a plastic bag moves, is beyond me...

Four deer jump across our path as we round a turn, a doe stops to look at the two of us. Sizing us up or trying to understand what kind of an animal has two sets of eyes, it's hard to say what a deer thinks.

The excitement of our adventure rises off Czech's shoulders and withers as fresh steam, the heat radiates up and warms my own hands, and I'm grateful for it since my gloves were left behind in the trailer... again. Sidestepping to avoid rocks, Czech swings us underneath the branches. We simply can't both fit and I come away with wet shoulders from the winter berries that had held on to their raindrops through the night, until now.

Watching him paw in the shallow water crossings, tossing his head and teasing me that he may, in fact, drop to roll at any minute, it's easy to forget that this horse raced at Churchill Downs.

He picks up a trot and the leaf squishing one-two beat of his hooves echo riding instructors past, up down up down, one two one two, weight in your heels, shoulders back, check your diagonal...and we were into the open fields.

Last ride here, we had a long negotiation over the bank Czech had to go down, next to a horse eating culvert, under the stone bridge, and finally crossing the water with cars going overhead. As we came up to it today, I put my lower leg on ready to state my case for moving forward.

It wasn't needed.

Czech had a score to settle with that crossing and gave one snort before launching down the bank into a Thoroughbred swan-dive, we splashed into the water, my breeches above the cuff of my tall field boots getting soaked with the icy water, and in 3 strides he was surging up the other side. Clearly proud of himself and certain he'd earned every peppermint I had back at the trailer, Czech shook like a big dog.

Six more miles, 3 more road crossings, we were on the last leg of our trip. I gave a few clucks and picked up my reins, letting him run. Czech and I flew through the woods scaring deer and scattering squirrels. His long strides eating up the ground so fast it seemed too soon when we came out to the last clearing to pull up, cool down, and pay our respects at a cavalry monument.

It's the Christmas season and everywhere you hear words like Joy and Peace. I don't know any easy way to give the Earth peace or joy this year, but I can at least find it for myself so there's one less person in the world who needs it, maybe that's good enough.