I often watch Dinky standing alone in the backfield looking out into the woods just as he did as a baby. He is fourteen now and still, there is at times that lost lonely little boy staring off into the distance, and I wonder what is he thinking?
Is he remembering once more those lost and lonely years? Or trying to figure out what the changes are that are happening since Chrome and Connella grow older, less interested in play than he is, and often pushing him away.
Does he understand yet how to handle change? Does he know what being a part of a herd that is aging and although so is he, not at the same age as they are?
And I wonder how best I can help him. It is after he has spent this time staring off into the woods. All alone within himself and he will sneak up at mealtime and run quickly into his room as if he is afraid, he will be pushed out. He will peek from around the door at me, and wait till I come up to say hello, gently pet his head and neck and give him kind words that he is more himself.
I do talk to him and tell him I want to help him to understand and be more confident of his place, and his place is and will change as circumstances do in life. I pet and comfort him, but I wonder. Is it enough?
Dinky: The Nurse Mare’s Foal – Marta Moran Bishop]
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