She woke up this way. That is, if she went to sleep at all which I doubt she did. Gisela, my 27 year old Warmblood, loves weather like this. That night the moon was full, the wind was still and it was cold but not bitterly so. I imagine she stood in her paddock and watched as the fog settled around the edges of the surrounding fields and frost transformed her world. Imagine that for a moment…Think about standing quietly all night long watching frost form on pine needles in the trees, the grasses in the field and all along the wire fencing. Crystal by crystal, as the night wore on, her world would have begun sparkling all around her in the moonlight. I’m not sure I could do this although I think it must be beautiful to experience. Gisela, however, lives for glittering, moonlit nights like this and she is happier for having had them.

Here are three things I know about horses:

  1. They can hear your heartbeat from four feet away and they will synchronize their heartbeat with yours.
  2. They have a memory second only to elephants.
  3. Horses have excellent night vision and a 350 degree range of vision. Our range of vision is about 180 degrees.

Horses and humans are so different it’s a miracle we get along at all. Fundamentally, we are predators, they are prey and each of us think and react as such. Yet, for thousands of years there has been a partnership between us. You don’t have to go back very far in your family tree to find people who depended on horses in their everyday life. Today things are different and horses are viewed as a novelty by some, a luxury by others and a necessity for those who can’t imagine life without them. The latter is me although I’m getting older and the two I have are the last I’ll have. The days of synchronized heartbeats are finite and knowing this makes every day I have with them all the sweeter.

She will remember that sparkly night. I will remember that tangle of mane covered in frost and how bright her eyes were. That morning she stepped out of the paddock followed by her very best friend, Mercedes, and looked out across the foggy fields. The moon had set, the glitter was gone and another day had begun. The two walked out to the farthest pasture knowing spring is just around the corner. Noses to the ground, they searched for the first shoots of green.