Dave's New Girl

Dave is in love, and it's not with me.

The new object of his affection is the feisty, delicate, grey haired "Amy". She came to live with us for a few weeks before moving to New York, and she has captured my husband's heart.

He may have to fight Murray for her though. Afterall, like Murray, Amy is a thoroughbred, and they've been exchanging languorous, lingering looks across the fence. Of course, in the evenings, confined to her stall, she bats her eyelashes at Dave while licking his hand. Both Maggie and I feel somewhat slighted.

Perhaps I should back up a step. A week ago, I got an e-mail from an acquaintance asking if I could perhaps take-in a horse for a couple of weeks as her barn was full-to-overflowing. Dave and I discussed it and decided we might as well. That's how Amy became our first border. She arrived the next day, at the same time as the vet came to give the horses their shots, and a lovely couple from Bridgewater stopped in to deliver our new-to-us hay conveyer.

Amy didn't seem to mind the chaos, though Murray and Maggie were immediately tripping over themselves to get a good glimpse of this new guest of City Limit Stables. Poor things, they didn't get much of a chance to oggle her. Within a half-hour or so of her arrival, both of my horses were tranquillized so their teeth could be floated.

They were still pretty dopey when I put them back outside. They barely noticed her across the fence. Murray did turn his droopy lids toward her once, but my guess is that he considered her to be some kind of side effect from the drugs. I think it was a few hours before they truely realized they weren't alone.

In any case, Amy seems quite content with her temporary home. She works-out in the mornings by trotting around her paddock, then she spends the afternoon napping in the warm sun. As a guest, she's not allowed to socialize with the permanent equine residents, but there's little I can do to keep her and Dave apart. He keeps asking if we can keep her. I tell him three's a crowd.