"Beauty and the Beast"

For now I still digress into somewhat personal blog entries. I figure, it's still nice, even on a "technical" blog to let people get to know us.

Right now my niece is visiting for the summer. Those who know us are aware of our two, 1 ton each, Percheron horses. Our Tess is 26 years old this year. She is a large black Percheron mare. And, yes, she really weighs 2000 pounds. Our latest acquisition, Nimmy, is a rescue when he was abandoned at a local boarding stable. We've had him for 3 years now, and he actually weighs in at an estimated 1,800 pounds. So, we exaggerate a little at the 2 tons - obviously we're about 200 pounds short. Nim is 10 years old this year, and we've had him for 3 years now - he is black with a star on his forehead.

But, my summer tale involves my niece, and her relationship with the horses. We started introducing her to the horses when she was 4 1/2 years old, and we taught her safety around horses, and to respect their power. We put her in a saddle on Tess when she was 5 1/2 years old, and she was a tiny speck on the massive shoulders of our mare, and completely unafraid. She is now almost 10 years old, and she is quite the seasoned horse person, having been around horses for half of her life now.

Once we got Nimmy, she fell in love with him, and he fell in love with her. When she arrives at our house, the first thing she does is jump out of the car and run to the fence crying "Nimmy! Nimmy! Come here boy!" And, it never fails: When Nimmy hears her voice, he comes immediately, no matter how long she has been away, and no matter where he is in the pasture.

The other day we came home after shopping, and we saw that Tess was at the fence, but we could not see Nimmy. My niece said "I'll get him." So, she hops out of the car and runs up to the fence, again crying "Nimmy! Nimmy! Come here boy!" A few seconds later, our massive boy comes galloping to the fence, mane flying, nostrils flaring, large hooves churning up the dust. Once he neared the fence, he came to a sliding stop (well, at least as much of a sliding stop as a Percheron can manage), and with complete precision ended up a mere foot away from our niece, with her completely unflinching, waiting for him. With this drought our pasture is dry, and the dust billowed up around them and almost hid our niece from view. Then the billows cleared, and revealed the tiny speck of a girl caressing the large muzzle of the massive "beast." Truly an example of "Beauty and the Beast" if I ever saw one.