Well, look what I did.
An unplanned visit done on a whim while running an errand. A sign of healing because that is what I would have done before Abby died - any time I was in the vicinity of the barn, I'd have swung by to visit the horses.
Hokey and Sultanna did not come up the last time I'd stopped by; this time they came right over.
Tim was way out in the northwest pasture doing a burn pile, but when he saw me, he hiked down to say hello. That gave us a chance to catch up.
He thinks that Hokey may have actually been hit by the lightning strike that killed Abby and Two Socks. He gave me his reasoning at length (and it's sound), but here's an abbreviated summary:
~ Hokey's feet were very tender for weeks afterward, and that is where the lightning would have exited his body.
~ He was SO very traumatized, hiding in the old barn for weeks and only coming out for brief periods to graze and drink.
~ He is blind in his right eye now and that happened suddenly and right after the lightning strike.
Poor boy!
As you can see, Sultanna is back and she has taken over Abby's role as the herd alpha.
Tim reports that when she returned she was very protective of Hokey and kept running Easy off from him. Hokey and Easy had become good buddies, and so now they are all sorting out their relationships in the herd.
But things are settling down. Easy has had some training and Tim has been riding him. He comes from The Easy Ranch in Texas and had mostly been running free in a pasture. He was not used to people much nor did he have much ground training. But he is coming along beautifully.
It was good to be out at the barn again, chatting with Tim, hanging with the horses, and enjoying the barn life. I mentioned that I still needed to retrieve my saddles and tack trunk out of the new barn, and he told me they were fine where they were, reiterating that I was always welcome there.
In response to photos that I'd taken of him and then sent him that afternoon, he wrote a text later in the evening.
"As long as Lynn's bell is out there, please consider it your home."
The November Give Away closes at 11:59 PM Eastern tonight! Enter by commenting with your guess as to what kind of riding license the gentleman at the Feast showed me. (I can't wait to share what it was.)
