A Return to the Journey of 2011... Planning....

  Part 1

Looking back I imagine this woman couldn't get me out of the barns fast enough. What she needed was me gone so she could work on my friend to manipulate her perception of the situation to suit her needs.

My friend with her good heart was ripe to be easily swayed by the argument this woman's motivations were totally about helping me. Trusting this woman as much as she trusts me, she wanted to believe her motives were pure. My friend's desire to help me in these difficult times and the overwhelming extent of the situation here made her an easy target.

That groundwork must have been well laid by the time the truck and trailer pulled up. My friend never would have allowed any kind of advances that might put me at risk.

 While I had not recognized the truck and trailer pulling into my yard, I had seen one of its occupants well enough to realize I knew her. She was the mother of this woman who was now out at my barns grooming horses. I figured the other one was probably her husband since I knew all three lived together.

Knowing the rig was associated with this woman gave me pause. That paperwork from AHA listing all my horses still nagged at me. Now having a truck and trailer show up without an invitation my uneasiness grew.

To tired to think, I still could not rest. I tried to imagine why this woman would think it was ok to summon a horse trailer to my farm. Not having the benefit of the hindsight I now have, struggled for some kind of readin. Obviously she must be thinking she was taking horses home but what was she thinking?

My friend had told me that in the past this woman had taken young, unstarted horses for others. As I remember there was some kind of partnership. The woman did the training until the horses were sold. My friend had even suggested, in the past before Richard and Angie, that this might be an option for me.

Now I wondered if this could be the explanation for this rig showing up at my farm. If it was, it was still presumptuous for her to take such liberty without talking to me first but presumptuous behavior was not surprising from this woman. To sick to think clearly, I could come up with no other reason so I tried to rest telling myself I would know soon enough what was going on.

The uneasiness I felt would not let go. I tried to convince myself waiting for a brief respite would not change anything but I just could not shake this feeling something was amiss. As exhausted as I was I pushed myself back out to the barn for some kind of explanation.

I found the woman in the outside stalls of the hay  barn. She was inside the third stall from the end while my friend was in the stall next to her.  Both were working on detangling the manes of the mares there.

I looked at my friend for some sign of discomfort. There was none there, no sign of any alarm that a horse trailer had arrived on my farm without invitation. I didn't know what else to do so I just came out and asked, "What's the deal? Are you planning on taking horses home?"

Without hesitation she responded. "Well, that depends. We are a partnership so I have to talk to my family. We all share in the work so we all must share in the decision. I will let you know when we decide something."

That was it. She broke off the conversation like everything necessary was said.

Shortly after her mother came walking around the corner to find me sitting on a railroad tie totally exhausted. Her look was grave. I assumed her expression was about me. I certainly felt that bad. Then she said something about it being overwhelming and I nodded in agreement. Being this sick and responsible for thirty horses was overwhelming.

Not seeing any sign of alarm from my friend, I pushed myself back onto my feet making my way back to the house to rest. Whatever was going on I would need a clear head when the woman came to talk.

To be continued.....

A Turning Point.............