Truthful Tuesday

 

So... I'm not an overly spiritual person. I don't really believe in spirits and ghosts and whatever. But also I can't prove they aren't a thing so I keep my mind open. Just in case. Don't want to anger any spirts out there or anything (I mean, my house IS 263 years old, I'm SURE if it's possible, it must be haunted). But guys, I have to admit. I feel like some of my past horses sent Al to me. 

I've already mentioned how he's incredibly similar to Rio. They have a similar look:

And they do some of the same silly things. For example, Rio could be pretty spooky, but only if you let him. If you gave him things to do and think about, he didn't have a chance to notice things to be afraid of. Al is quite similar. I swear that horse has incredible eyesight. He sees every little flying bug, the one leaf that changed color along the fence line, etc. But if you can keep his attention on you, none of that stuff bothers him. If you let his mind wander, he might levitate himself away from one of those things he peeped. Much the same as Rio. They both were/are a little spinny... but they spin with their head up and back on their haunches, so they took/take you with them. (Very considerate, really. Ducky used to throw me to whatever he was afraid of.) So yeah, Rio definitely had something to do with Al landing here, that's a given. 

But you know who else he's like? There's a little bit of Jamp in there. Every now and then, and it's only happened while we're jumping, Al will just kind of take off for a few steps. 

Sometimes I get left behind and grab his face... sorry dude, but like, maybe don't do that? I'm sure you all remember that Jampy loved to scoot like that. He almost always did it his first time jumping in a new ring. And regularly did it at home spooking at the end of the ring.

They also have a similar look. I feel like Al is kind of what a Rio-Jamp baby would have looked like if that was a thing that could happen. 

When I first met Al, I really saw a lot of similarity between him and both Jamp and Rio. But my first heart horse recently made himself seen through Al too. 

I left Al on the crossties with his saddle and martingale on while I went into the tack room to get his bridle. I came back to find my martingale in his mouth. He chewed that thing so badly he wound up opening the loop. (This photo was the first time it happened. It's happened again since, and I had to rivet the loop closed. Clearly, I don't learn my lesson the first time.) Anyway, he's no longer allowed to wear his martingale unless it attached to his noseband. My horse Bud, whom I had long before this blog came to be, was the WORST chewer. Every year for indoors I would have to get him a new bridle because by the end of the year, the throatlatch had teeth marks and the reins were getting questionable... He actually had his own crop we let him chew on while we waited to jog just to keep the reins out of his mouth. I don't have any photos of his chewed up tack, so you'll have to take my word on it. But here he is just so you know who I'm referring to:

Just Humour Me, aka "Bud" circa mid nineties

Clearly, Al and Bud don't look anything alike, but I'm telling you, there's a little bit of Bud in there too. I'm not trying to project my old horses onto Al, I wasn't looking for any of it, it just all showed itself to me. I don't see any of them in Eros or Shiny or Pammon. But it's all there in Al. So weird. 

Maybe "the universe" didn't send him to me. Maybe my old horses don't really have anything to do with him. But it's kind of comforting to feel like my old friends are back with me in a little way. But even if they aren't, Al is a special guy, and I'm so glad he's here!