Thursday, October 6, 2011

Meet Jac...my 1000 pound toddler.

Charlie is still an "infant."  But, I'm getting some practice on what's to come since I also have a toddler...my horse Jac Smart.  I've usually always had older horses that have been around the block and I tend to forget that Jac is still a toddler.  He's 4 years old.  At 2, he started working, and he was showing at 3, so he's been around the block, but he's never, until now, gotten a chance to be a toddler.  
 
Jac Smart as a baby
 
 
I'm beginning to think there's not a whole lot of difference in raising a horse or a human (my horse friends are probably laughing and my non-horse friends are gasping!)  I realized that we "horse people" use a lot of the same terminology for our babies, human and equine alike.  For instance, when I was pregnant, I used to accidentally say "when this baby is on the ground" ("when he's born" in human talk).  I cluck when I want things to go faster (i.e. the cars in front of me in traffic).  And, the other night, my trainer (who has a son 4 days younger than Charlie) was talking about their nightly bedtime routine and when their son isn't ready to go to bed, they just have to "lope him down" ("wear him out" in human talk).     
 
But, a couple of weeks ago, I discovered the main difference between raising a toddler human and a toddler horse.  When the toddler human sees something new or scary, they investigate or laugh or cry.  When a toddler horse sees something new, the new thing is automatically scary, and the toddler horse must flee from it as quickly as possible to avoid imminent death - even if the new thing is just a toy, peice of wood, or...say...beeping truck.  I also learned that the toddler horse can hurls his 1000 pound body directly sideways in about 1/100 of a second, leaving his "mommy" no chance to come along for the ride.  My recent fall was really my fault - I often forget that Jac is a toddler and let my guard down.  I never let my guard down on my Thoroughbreds, but Jac is a quarter horse and bred for a laid back temperment.  In fact, we even laughed that the big spook was an indication that "at least he did something fast!"  
 
Earlier this week, he accidentally stepped back and tore out a huge hunk of his tail.  For about the next five minutes, he went around the arena thrashing his tail around and flicking his ears (horse equivalent of yelling "OUCH!" "OUCH!" and sticking out his bottom lip) to make me feel terrible for allowing him to injure himself.  And, in true toddler fashion, a few minutes later, he completely forgot about his tail when he saw water sprinklers for the first time.  Before I even knew what hit us, that little black peice of plastic came out of the ground, the water turned on, and with the first "schoo-schoo-schooo" of the sprinkler, we were entirely across the arena in about three steps - luckily, he found it necessary to carry me with him on this emergency escape.  Don't get me wrong...he's a great horse.  He's just a toddler and his reactions to new things are not always calm and calculated.  When I bought him, he would spook in slow motion.  So, I guess he's learned something new.  Ggrreeaatt.   
 
Both of my babies test me.  Charlie tests us on how long we'll let him cry before we come to the rescue.  Jac decided that he didn't want to turn left this week.  Jac has also realized that when he poops, I run behind him and clean up.  So, it's a game to him now....I think he saves it up...and he drops no less than three "gifts" for me, always inside the barn.  I can see him secretly laughing at me as he watches me drag the muck bucket around and I think I heard him whisper "bet you feel like a big fancy lawyer now...shit scooper girl."   I'm not a patient person with many things, but I've always been patient with my horses and Charlie...but they sure put me to the test sometimes.  If horses, and children, will make you anything, they'll make you humble!         
 
 
Closing thoughts:
(1)  It's a good thing toddler horses don't wear diapers.  No Genie would contain that. 
(2)  If the feed store would carry Gerber, my life would be a lot simpler.
 
 
 

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