Since losing Reality, Nahe and I have been very sad. It took me about a week for the emotions to come to a head. I was cleaning the paddock and the littlest inconvenience set me off. I screamed for about 15 minutes, when I had enough, I went inside and finally cried. My neighbor from down the street texted to see if I was okay, she heard me from her place 
January was a very difficult month. We lost Reality, I hit a deer, Tiger was sick with coronavirus, Stanley was dealing with ulcers while I was trying to demo a saddle. I also had a very bad crown placed and my jaw was in pain for weeks, I still can’t chew well…the dentist also had quoted me for a filling, so the $900 bill came as a major surprise especially after finally paying off the doctors for my two surgeries last year. I was in the process of getting money back from Ebay after being scammed on a $1200 purchase for a new camera lens. We had a windstorm which tore off the greenhouse plastic we put on our chicken run to give them protection and our mini shed was blown into our above-ground pool. It all was amplified by the fact that we are in winter, the days are short, and we hadn’t seen sun in weeks.
I promised you a happy post to follow the last, and I’m here to tell you things are finally turning around. Tiger is doing much better and he’s back to work. Stanley is doing much better and is also back to work. We built a wooden platform for the shed to weigh it down a bit.
We also welcomed a new member to our family. Augustus joined the family last week as a free lease. He is a colored draft cross owned by a lovely couple that lives only 20 minutes away. They responded to a Facebook post, and we mutually had a good feeling about each other.
Before our new addition came I had the weather and time to finally vacuum and drag the paddock. It wasn’t terrible because I was able to catch up back in December, winter is normally a lot colder and there are normally fewer days to fully clean like this.
While I dragged, Nahe went to the other paddock and showed off his moves. He’s retired but he can still move on occasion! He certainly brought a smile to my face. We haven’t been able to smile or play for weeks, so it was extra special.
Augie and Nahe met on a Sunday, they have a yin-yang thing going on. Nahe has black on white while Augie had white on black. They are both around the same height, different body shapes, and both have blazes.
The meet was mostly uneventful. Nahe squealed, Augie squealed. They sniffed. They ate.
Over the next few days, I got to watch the boys getting to know each other. Nahe retains his role as boss, but they seem to coexist well. They aren’t attached at the hip and separate themselves from each other regularly, but also eat well together. They take turns enjoying the run-in shed.
Within a couple days I introduced Augie to the other small paddock across the lane. He explored and ran around and then it was routine.
Earlier this week with him fully settled I opened the gate and the boys had access to the large pasture up top. I had also finally found a camera lens I wanted that wasn’t a scam. I took that opportunity to get a few shots in the big field.
Life is starting to feel normal again. Painful wounds are beginning to heal. I’ve been taking things day by day and constantly reminding myself how things could be much worse. It’s a fact that I am truly lucky and blessed, so I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but I was overwhelmed. It’s human. I truly am grateful.
I am really looking forward to this warm weather to come, bringing grass and life back to our world…and to watch these two incredible retirees enjoy their life here.
The Green Horseman 
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