Day 17

Little Love is in love.  Today when I arrived at the barn, Col and her were in the pasture.  They were standing really close to each other and sort of investigating each other's bodies gently with their muzzles.  I have never seen anything like that before between two horses and the moment seemed so private that I sort of felt like I was spying on them.  I silently stood back and watched how every now and then Little Love would reposition herself so that her bottom was right in front of Col's nose.  He had no objections to that.  He may be a gelding, but there seems to be a distant memory of something that guides his actions.  He would sniff and nuzzle at her behind, and then rest his head against her backside.  He also groomed Little Love on the neck and withers, and she seemed to be in heaven.  Unfortunately Col himself is wrapped in a massive blanket so Little Love could not return the favor.   Hopefully some day it will be possible. 

Getting the horses in from the field was pretty straight forward.  When before we had to put on halters and walk them together across the yard (because that's where the two smaller paddocks are), now we just open the gate and they walk into the barn on their own.  When Lilo came in, she was literally covered in Col's saliva, as he also likes to lick pretty much everything.  There was a new kind of peace in her, it's hard to explain, but she seemed so grounded.  She even tolerated brushing in a completely different manner.  There have been so many changes to her life in the past few weeks, but I think giving her a horse-friend must be the best one so far, at least in her opinion!