Don't mess with my horse...

There's a lot of things you can say or do to me that won't get my riled up. I'll likely shrug them off and the solace of knowing that you're a f-ing moron is usual enough for me and I let it slide. I'm pretty easy going and I hate conflict so while I do tend to get walked on or pushed around, there's a very distinct line drawn in my head that you dare not cross. Say and do what you will to me, but don't mess with my horse. The overprotective, out-for-blood lioness protecting her cub comes out and heaven help the poor soul who test that boundary.

There's a new freshman who boards at my barn. To say this girl has no boundaries would be an egregious understatement. She has no social, moral, or physical boundaries, constantly in your space, never picking up on hints, touching you, touching your stuff, offering her opinions on everything that you clearly never asked for. Freshman to a "T," always right, knows everything, cannot be convinced otherwise. When she came to see Gina's for the first time before the new facility was built, I just happened to be out there and had just finished riding so Buddy was up in the courtyard. She and her mother entered the courtyard with Buddy and began petting him and trying to touch his face, without even saying a word to me, like they owned the place. Buddy had a lot of head shy issues when he first came down to So Ill so I'm very weary of overly exuberant people messing with his face. Then before even introducing herself, Freshman blurted out to me "What's wrong with his face?" Buddy has the pangare or "mealy" gene meaning his muzzle is a softer grey or lighter color at all times. Its very common in Mustangs and its the most apparent and prevalent in categorizing the look of a typical mule, with the lighter muzzle area. When someone asks "What's wrong with his face?" I try to educate people about it because Buddy is an ambassador for his breed. But Freshman knows everything and cut me off before I could get to "pangare" and talked over the top of me.

So I was out at the barn the other day feeding Buddy for his middle feeding and since there are only a handful of us boarders, I've been lucky enough not to run in to anyone while I'm out there having my Buddy time. Our barn owner Gina even made sure to mention during our barn-warming party last Monday that horses are therapy for a lot of people so please respect each other's space, privacy, and understand that some of us just want to spend quiet time with our horses when we're out there. Well Freshman comes through the barn and stands on the outside of the gated area near the tack, the absolute opposite side of the property that her mare is on, and started blathering on. I've been working SSSOOO hard on getting Buddy to feel safe and not panicky in his stall so he finishes every expensive meal that's put in front of him since he hadn't been grazing as much from the mare stress. Freshman decides to let out EARSPLITTING whistles to her mare and SHRIEK her name while 5 feet from mine and Buddy's ears. Buddy's head shot up, eyes bugged out, snorting, dropping food out of his mouth, clearly nervous because I call him with a soft whistle that mimics a distant horse whinny and he typically responds or comes to it. After Freshman whistled, my ears were ringing, I can only imagine how much she rattled Buddy. I covered my ears and winced theatrically and even though she saw me, SHE DID IT AGAIN. So I turned to her and said "Could you please not do that right here, its way too loud for my ears and you're clearly upsetting my horse. We're already having enough trouble with his weight and you're upsetting him which is preventing him from eating." Freshman, from here out now known as "Dumbshit," said "Oh sure no problem," and proceeds further into the barn to stand next to me at Buddy's stall while I watch him eat and try to call him down. Once he's eating again and nearly done, I go over to the tack room to grab his halter and stuff so I can take him out to graze him. When I get back Dumbshit is IN THE STALL with Buddy hand feeding him the last crumbs of his food by lifting the pan up to his mouth. I said "Um, please don't go into a stall with my horse, he's having enough problems trying to feel safe in there and I didn't tell you you could." Dumbshit's response was "Oh its ok, I'm not gonna hurt him I just want to make sure he ate all his food." I responded with "Yeah, I got it, please get out..." Well Buddy had finished eating his food and wanted to explore the salty sweat of her arm and the silly bands on her wrist. The second his lips touched her arm, she SMACKED my horse in the face. I was stunned. I don't even remember what I said besides "What the hell... get out..." She tried to explain to me that she's been nibbled on by horses before that turned into bites so she didn't know if he was maybe going to bite her. I asked if he had bit her and she said no, but you never know, she doesn't know my horse and doesn't know if he bites or not. I ushered her out of the stall and explained to her his intentions and that 6 year old autistic kids have fed him from their tiny fingers without a problem, he always uses his tongue to explore, he's not a biter.

I ignored the rest of the garbage that came out of her mouth, putting Buddy's halter on him and leading him out to be grazed. Dumbshit followed us. I'm clearly not being friendly or inviting and she's clearly there to ride her own horse, why is she feeling the need to intrude ONCE AGAIN? I took Buddy out to the South lawn and she commented on his grazing pickiness and how selective he is. I kept saying "It's because he's nervous and you're in his way..." finally after 2 solid minutes of her constant chatter and I cut her off and said "Shouldn't you go ride your own horse? It's prob gonna get dark soon..." It was 3:30pm. She wandered off still talking, thinking I could hear her prattling on about God knows what from a quarter mile away. I continued to walk Buddy WWWAAAYYY into the back forty beyond the treeline so she'd get the hint and grazed him a half an hour just so I knew she was on her horse by the time I brought him back, making it harder for her to follow us. Didn't work. As I walked him back passed the barn to my car to get a peppermint out of my trunk, Dumbshit burst through the open door of the arena on her mare, shouting my name simultaneously, scaring the ever loving shit out of Buddy and I both. He spooked, then screamed and got all worked up over her mare, who started screaming and acting up. I completely ignored her, made a big show of calming Buddy back down, shot her the coldest glare I could and continued with my task.

I showed incredible restraint for the sake of not causing drama at the barn. Next time she lays a hand on my horse, I will likely remove that hand. Not just from my horse, but from her body.

I don't care if I'm known as one of those girls that a little too bonkers over their horse. Not many people understand what this horse is to me. He is the ONLY horse I wanted my life at this point in my education and financial situation, I was not by any means int he market for a horse. My job requires me to stay in Carbondale on all holidays and spend a lot of time away from my family and friends, especially when they go home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day this passed year sitting against a round bale in Buddy's pasture, just watching him eat for hours. I had no where else to go between shifts. He got me through a traumatic break-up of a relationship I was in for 7.5 years, he got me through losing my grandfather and not being able to be there for my family. I hate to anthropomorphize animals since I am a Zoology major, but Buddy is my family, and sometimes he's all I have. And while that doesn't sound like a lot, he's EVERYTHING to me. Some days he's the only reason I get up in the morning. A friend and I had a discussion about my single status. She and another mutual friend talked about my lack of love interests since I've been single, and our mutual friend asked if she should be concerned about me and my complete lack of seeking a male counterpart. My friend told her that she knows that I'm OK, because of Buddy. I have a high-maintenance, needy, very large, 4-legged male in my life that takes up a lot of my time and attention, and she's never seen me more happy and fulfilled. I don't care if that doesn't sound healthy. He gives me the confidence to be outgoing and brave and social because I know if my world all comes crashing down again, even when he just stands there and does nothing at all but sniff my hands for treats, his shoulder is always there for me to lean on.