RicelandMeadows

Duke … Ready for work

January 25, 2012

 

     I don’t particularly like to be singled out. I can handle it, but it makes me a bit uncomfortable. They say its good to be out of your comfort zone now and then, but I don’t like it.

 

     Duke works for me single. It is mostly his fault. He wouldn’t walk straight in the traces of his harness when worked with his teammate. It was a small thing that bothered the heck out of me. I tried many things to fix it, but nothing worked.

 

     Since I couldn’t fix Duke’s problem, I decided to get rid of Duke. I searched and found a mate for my Knight horse and was set to send Duke “down the road”. I hitched Duke single to do a small job and found him to be awesome when worked alone.

 

     He travels straight and does anything that I ask. I am in the process of fixing up a sort of  farm pick-up that Duke will pull when I need a small job done. He works well in the woods skidding single logs in tight places. He just pleases me in several ways.

 

     I am not sure if Duke was just picking at me when he would be such an ass before, or if he just wanted some undivided attention. When we work together now, Duke gets all the attention. He gets praised, petted and made over. He is a hit when we get visitors and a ham for picture takers 😮

 

     Duke was beaten up once when he was a colt. A neighbor girl kept her horse here for a short time. One day the two of them got into a fight. Duke was tied up. The other horse kicked the dickens out of Duke. I was very unhappy to say the least.

 

     Duke had to be taken care of for a while. I bathed him twice a day for a couple of weeks. I dressed his wounds and at times thought he would not recover. He grew to like our bath and medical sessions. He became easy to handle and not much scares him. I am not sure if it was the tender care he got, or the thought of that horse kicking the crap out of him again. Whatever it was , he became a real gentleman.

 

     I am thinking that perhaps he knew what his fate might be, so he started acting better. I don’t know, I guess I am giving him too much credit. He is just a horse… right?  … No, he is my buddy. I hope to have him around for a long time. We misfits understand each other I guess. In any case, he doesn’t mind being singled out and I like him that way !