Coping Aid No. 1: Maddie

Maddie is a grey mare with freckles. At least she is right now. When she was younger she was steel grey with dapples, and as those faded with age she became snow white with manure stains (she is a pig) in the winter and freckled (with manure stains) in the summer.

You might think that as she aged she would become more mature, but no. She lives to amuse herself and has two alter egos.

Periodically her evil twin Muriel appears and did so the other night when she opened the latch to her stall door and went out to look for trouble. She found it too – as she always does – this time by dumping out all of the stuff in a boarder’s plastic containers. She found the sugar-free treats, decided they were disgusting, ripped the bags open and threw the contents all over the barn. She then turned her attention to the latches on the other horses’ stalls. Thank God I caught her before all hell broke loose.

And then there is Pluto’s Magdalena.

Apparently she has been telling the other horses that her grandfather was a Lipizzaner stallion and preens around showing the boys in the barn how beautiful she is. She seems to have forgotten that she came from a herd of miscellaneous horses in Canada. But that was a long time ago, and a girl can be whoever she wants to be per the law according to Maddie - I mean, Pluto’s Magdalena….

In addition to all this she is a working woman and has supported the barn by teaching assorted children and adults to ride and jump. She is an excellent instructor. If they do it right, she does. If they don’t, she does nothing, looks around at her rider as if to say, “You talkin’ to me?”

She also likes dress up, here as part of a Halloween team, Cat, Mouse, and Cheese. (Maddie is the Mouse, we are not to scale)

She does not worry about the dark forces lurking in the world. Food, entertainment, and admiration – in that order – are her priorities. She is happy and so is everyone who spends time with her. She is my role model for delight.

What is yours?

September 5, 2020