Wingless

I am a firm believer that there is no possible reason why a person would get up any earlier than they absolutely must. Yet, if a character must rise before their liking, they might as well start their day off in the place that they love the most. For some this place might be their own kitchen or perhaps on their front porch rocker. In my case there is no place I'd rather be at 6:00am than in a dirty, dusty barn. I know! Unlikely choice! I'm a country girl with an absolute obsession with horses. The last four days I have been filling in for the usual barn worker (for lack of a better word). Being as I haven't worked in a barn for over a year, I had forgotten how much work taking care of a whole aisle full of hungry horses truly is! Having a dependent that you can lean on (quite literally) makes the work well worth it. One of my best friends calls it the Unwritten Dependency Plan: We feed them. They don't kill us. :) 

I love being the first one through the barn doors on a crisp fall morning. Naturally at 6:00 in the morning my senses are not nearly as adroit as they otherwise would be, say at 8:00am. The doors creaked stiffly open, resembling my own feelings and movements. I took my first uneven step into the barn and was immediately greeted with a whinny. A nicker. The lights. A muzzle. Another, and another. All in a row. Suddenly my eyes brightened and the spring in my step returned from the previous day. Ahhh... I've been missed. And then off I trotted to perform the morning chores with flare.

It has been said that horses give us the wings we lack. Apart, neither horse nor mankind can fly; neither possess the necessary qualities. But together they form a new kind of creature, one that is more courageous, determined, and willing to face the seemingly impossible. There is something magical about the feeling that encroaches on the mind and body when two such beings connect and conquer a new feat. Without horses, the human race would be grounded permanently. In my opinion that is a fate worse than death. I am determined to never join the inexperienced section of the human race that will always remain wingless.