Dogs And Horses..

A good start to the week.

The other day I was walking alongside the Deutsch-Schützen forest when my former nemesis and his mistress came towards me. As small as he is ( could be a shoulder bag accessory ) he couldn't resist giving me a sample of his tenor whenever I dared to walk past him. Well, now he couldn't even be bothered to give me even the slightest grumble. In fact far from it, he came and curved himself around my leg. Shoo, what a relief because you know what they say about dogs and their instincts.

Late yesterday afternoon I had just finished feeding the outside family which seems to have increased to three feral darlings and went to our gate in order to check for any postal missives. Nobody had thought of us and as I turned to go back inside I saw a big shape in the distance. Having left my glasses inside I couldn't be sure if I had seen a cow, horse or a mirage.

Squinting into the distance I chose to wait for whatever it was to come closer. It did and turned out to be the neighbourhood horses, three Haflingers, who were being taken for a walk. A walk in the canine fashion with the young sprig being egged along by his mother, aunt and owner. I only know because I asked their owner who wasn't against a short chat with me. Nice and a good way to meet people. What an ice breaker, taking your horses for a walk...

There we were, three horses and two ladies in the middle of the road outside our house and only when Bob, who'd just come back from work, reminded me that far from being a rural road, locals do like to take the corner as if they were at Spielberg, did we disband. Gosh, is there anything nicer than giving a horse a pat on the neck, a brush of their mane or a daring stroke of their nose...to close to a sharp set of yellowed gnashes.

This morning again, as I came back from my walk I ran into another neighbour ( aren't we a healthy bunch? ) taking his dog for a stroll. A cute dog, still in late infancy and dead set against listening to any parental strictures or rules despite having attended canine behavioural lessons. All he wanted to do was jump up and be cuddled by yours truly...his master laid down the law for both of us when he quickly told me:

" He's not allowed to jump up. "

Oh well, teenagers need structure but perhaps my numerous canine encounters are nudging us closer to rescuing a dog from the pound.

A photo taken of two of the Haflingers last July.

Biggi