Faith is a Jerk

Faith at the Young Horse Show

It’s a fact that you really never know someone until you live with them. This is particularly true with horses.

That sweet, kind equine you’ve ridden, groomed and played with every day for years at the stable turns into a beast when it moves into the backyard. 

The quiet, gentle pony transforms into a boss mare or want-to-be stallion. They turn feral when the farrier comes and no one can catch them while the vet is waiting to do vaccinations with the clock ticking.

This has become increasingly obviously now that Faith is temporarily living at home.

Faith is my baby. Actually she’s Lucy’s baby. But I have been intimately involved in her entire life, from picking out her father to the present.  We met when she was 30 minutes old I've seen her almost weekly since then.Almost immediately she was attached to me like Velcro.

Just Born

It might be because she quickly figured out that when I appeared, so did peppermints and carrots. 

One Day Old

When she was tiny she would even leave her BFF Conamor to visit with me.

Faith and Conamor

When she was older, if I called her, she’d charge from whatever corner of her pasture she was hiding in to skid to a halt in front of me. She hasn’t hit me.  Yet.

So I thought I knew her. I was wrong.

What I didn’t know was that Faith is a jerk.

It may be the hormones -she is scheduled to be a teen mom, due in February. But I don’t think so.

I think she is just kind of clueless. To be fair, she is just three.

She is still a jerk.

Of course, Faith may be channeling the spirit of Dezi, who died a few months back. I adored him, but he was a certified jerk. Verging on an asshole.

Like Dezi, when I clean the barn, Faith follows me around. Maybe she thinks she’s helping. More likely, she is pointing out where I’ve missed a spot, or have failed to fluff the shavings properly.

She is always in the middle of stuff. Whatever is going on, she is right there pushing her way to the front to see what’s happening and getting in the way.

She’s always been that way. Bossy. So much so, that eventually she was yanked from the field of young horses and turned out with a group of old crabby broodmares to teach her some manners. She quickly learned to show them respect.

With her mom, not so much.

When I brought Faith home, there was no joyous mother and child reunion. It was more like Lucy rolled her eyes and moaned, “Damn, you again?”

Mother and Child Reunion

Typically, Faith didn’t notice. She just barged around the paddock. For a while she even pushed Talen around, shoving past him to get to the best hay or the snack first.

Initially he didn’t react. I think he was in shock. Nobody had ever pushed him around before. 

At first, Faith, being somewhat clueless didn’t notice when he pinned his ears and snarked at her. Then one morning she was covered with teeth marks. After that, she let Talen have first crack at the alfalfa and carrots.  

In her defense. She is bored. She is three and Lucy and Talen are dull. Talen is relatively young, but since he is quite lame at anything but a walk, running and bucking are rare.

Faith does her best to get her old pasture mates to play. She charges around the paddock squealing and bucking. Talen will canter a few steps and quit. Lucy doesn’t even try.

So I guess it's to be expected that Faith has turned her energy to a different direction. Like escaping.

Electric fencing surrounds the entire paddock. It was necessary because Dezi had the ability to open every gate ever made. So on top of the wire, all the gates are chained with double snaps.

Faith found another way out: she lifts the gate off its hinges and squishes or jumps through the space into the back yard. The first morning I found her wandering the destroyed yard, she was so proud of herself she galloped up whinnying.

After stuffing her back in the paddock, I rehung the gate and tied it closed with baling twine. What was I thinking?

That night around midnight I heard banging on the back porch. It was Faith, peering in the kitchen window. She obviously expected me to let her in the house.

Unlike Dezi, who always brought his posse with him when he escaped, she was alone. The others had stayed in the field either reluctant to jump the downed gate in the dark, or they were glad to have her somewhere else.

There I was in my pajamas dragging the  her back to paddock and tying the gate up again. I used rope this time.

The next day I went to Lowes and bought all sorts of hardware. That night she got the hinges off, but couldn’t move the gate. She was so frustrated she kicked it for a while before giving up and sulking in a corner.

I adore her, but I am counting the days until she can go back to Three Wishes to have her baby. I will miss her. Most of the time.

Because she is a jerk. But she is less of one there. Or so I can pretend.

Me and Faith