Sunday Quote of the Week

“In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.” ~Aaron Rose

An excerpt from “Tails Carried High”

“… As they approached the paddock, David called the mares and Jessikah watched as a large group of white heads lifted to stare in their direction. He called a second time, setting off a chain reaction. The horses turned and, as though choreographed, began to trot and then gallop towards them. Jessikah raised her camera to capture the image of galloping hooves, wide bellies and flashing eyes below masses of floating manes and tails.
The horses arrived, skidding and leaping, to halt right in front of them. They fussed about David, expecting the delicacy he always had tucked away in his pockets.
‘Here, feed them these’, he said, tossing Jessikah some diced up carrot. Jessikah counted twelve mares who, though different in body shape and size, closely resembled each other. All had tiny, flicking ears, chiselled heads and healthy, compact bodies. To her uneducated eye, they were near impossible to tell apart.
‘How can you tell who is who?’ she asked. ‘They all look the same.’
David’s face creased into a pleased smile at her comment.
‘It’s taken decades to breed such a consistent group. Of course, much of the credit must go to Darion. The horses I like differ slightly from my father. With Doug’s help, I concentrated on a more refined individual, both skeletally and in bone diameter. You don’t have to have big bone to be strong bone’, he explained.
Jessikah pressed her fingers against her temple, then rubbed her forehead.
‘Do you have a headache?’ asked David.
‘No, it’s just there’s so much to learn. Sometimes all this horse business is overwhelming.’
‘I’m sorry, Jessikah. I forget you don’t know about these things. I don’t have many opportunities to blather on these days.’
Jessikah laughed. ‘It’s fine. You can blather on as much as you like. You were saying about diameter of bone…?’ ”

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Photograph copyright Carmel Rowley