Off the Clock

I haven't had as much time for Ransom this summer (that is, if you count going to the barn only four days a week instead of seven). Between starting a second part-time job, going on family vacation, and having my sisters home for a few short weeks, Ransom moved down a few notches on the priority list.

My life has been one big to-do list, and since I work hourly, I'm constantly thinking of the time. Visiting Ransom in the evenings after a day of work, it was difficult to let go of this mentality. I found myself looking at my watch every five minutes. What? I'd only been riding 15 minutes? I should ride at least 25. And that's where the obligation crept in. How did I fall into counting the minutes until I finished? It wasn't that I didn't enjoy being with him. I felt guilty for wanting to go home and unwind instead, and I felt guilty for not putting more time and effort into Ransom.

I decided that, when possible, the barn would be my "watch-free" zone. When I pulled out my grooming box, the watch went in my pocket. I instinctively glanced at my wrist several times, only to find it bare. Free from the constraints of time, Ransom and I puttzed around the arena, doing as we pleased for as long or short as I felt like. My internal feelings of obligation and the to-dos of tomorrow settled in the dust Ransom kicked up at the trot.

After putting him away, I slid into my truck, where the digital clock glowed bright numbers. I was back on the clock.

Matching Manes

Ransom and I both got our hair cut this week. I’d always worn my hair long, and this new summer chop to just below the shoulders was the shortest I’d ever gone. My long, brown ponytail was one of the reasons strangers sometimes commented that I “looked like a horse person.”

The scraggly ends of Ransom’s appaloosa mane were also looking unkempt. Cutting a horse’s mane is an unspoken taboo in the horse world, since the straight-cut look is stark and unnatural. The method of choice is to “pull” the mane by wrapping long hairs around a comb and ripping them out. I doubted Ransom would have any mane left if I pulled it.

A fellow boarder had a solution – a comb-like razor that trimmed the ends without leaving a scissored look. In less than two minutes she tidied up his thin fringe. The manes were tamed.