dancinghorse | Spring in the Desert, and various

Now today was more like it. Beautiful day--got to 80 or so, which with no humidity has a nice, mild feel to it, and dropped down to the high 60s by late afternoon. Just as I was starting my pages (got a scene well under way), around 11 a.m., my shoer's truck drove in, a week early. Oh well. A horseshoer who shows up on time or early is a pearl of great price, so I never complain. He has a radar, and never fails to come right when he's needed; the baby needed her feet done, so there he was.

He comes every three weeks, give or take--six weeks being the optimal shoe or trim period per horse, and he splits the troops up and does the barefoot girls one trip and the ridin' hosses (Capria and the boys)another. Today was trim day.

This meant three hours out in the shade of the breezeway, which was pretty short considering. Curt is a raconteur in the old Western style, with a true gift of gab and an inexhaustible fund of stories. If I'm in a hurry I leave him with the horses after a short chat, but today I wanted to help out with Ephiny, who was a Terror the last time, so I ended up staying out there for the duration. This consisted chiefly of standing next to Camilla, who was tied to a post, and being regaled with one story after another.

Camilla adores her shoer and he adores her, and she loves to hang out with the humans. She spent most of the time snuggled up against me or licking my hands, with her happy ears on. Eventually she got her feet trimmed. She's been rated in the top five of horses with perfect feet in his 50-year career, and she's quite proud of the fact.

Ephiny (also well up in the perfect-feet rankings--Lipizzan mares specialize in it) wasn't too bad. She's very tall and very gawky, with treetrunk legs, so when she's on three of them, she feels as if she's going to tip over. Lipps hate that. I stood on the other side and let her lean lightly against me, and that took care of most of it. The rest was just her being ornery. She is in the Terrible Twos, after all.

And I heard all about the new Quarab colt (Curt breeds Arabians and some crosses), the progress of the Morab mare, the new Palomino QH stud who is in for training, and some wild tales about trying out for movie-extra roles and driving multihorse hitches. Curt is endlessly entertaining.

Once all the girls had their new feet on and Curt had driven off to his next appointment, I took a break--then went out again for an evening ride. It was a two-for-one deal: riding Capria and ponying ze keed along on a leadrope. They both love this, and if I saddle up Capria, keed comes to the gate and waits, expecting to join her when she goes out. He pitches a shrieky fit if he doesn't get to go, too.

This wasn't a long ride, just around one of our favorite loops, checking out the wildflower situation. The yellow flowers are going at it full blast: greasewood, palo verde, brittlebush, paperflower. White wild zinnia and greenish-white Arizona jewelflower. Crimson amaranth. Hot-pink hedgehog cactus. Ocotillo like ten-foot, spiny green candles with orange flames. Orange globe mallow. Purple sand verbena. Masses of Mexican bird of paradise in canary yellow with long, curling scarlet stamens. Mesquite are starting to bloom; their flowers are long and fuzzy and yellow-green. Pook is waiting for those--they turn into sweet tan beans that he loves; they're his Treats-on-Trees.

Bird situation wasn't bad, either. Various sorts of doves, sparrows, grackles, starlings, woodpeckers, cactus wrens, thrashers, and three of my favorites: Gambel's quail in pairs (babies will be toodling along like windup toys soon), the barn roadrunner, and several phainopepla. The name means "bright cloak." This is a crested bird like a smallish, slimmish cardinal in Jesuit black. Its wings are lined with white, so when it flies, you catch the flash of the white inner feathers. It's very striking and quite beautiful.

And now an evening with 24, a foalcam (Annie at Sawyer Creek is finally threatening to drop that spotty baby), and of course, pages.