@novathesheltie on Tumblr

i’m half-leasing for the very first time in my life. he’s a selle français, 6yo, very forward with lots of scope. he humbles my equitation and sometimes i wonder what the hell i’m doing on this horse—but that’s not what i want to talk about. today, in the stall, i used the automatic waterer to wash off his bit. he, with a mouthful of hay, stretched his neck to me to check out what i was doing. “you thirsty?” i asked, pointing to the waterer. he looked at me with gigantic eyes. i went back to washing off his bit. he sniffed the bridle and watched carefully what i was doing. “just washing off your bit,” i said, unfocused, thinking back on the ride and the rain outside. he muzzled my jacket in response. i turned on the waterer to fill up his bowl, in case he changed his mind. the sound of the buzzing water peaked his interest once more. i showed it to him again and stepped away, and this time he went to drink. he drank the whole thing. he turned to me when it was empty. “you gotta push to get the water,” i said. he looked at me once more with his enormous puppy dog eyes. i went to the waterer and pushed the plate, letting the water fill the bowl. and suddenly there was a nose inching to the waterer, taking up all the space in the bowl, and deciding to take a gulp, with my hand still in there. so i was there, hand squished in the bowl, pushing on the plate while the little prince drank to his leisure. i took my hand away, at some point, and let him try to do it himself. he’s 6! he’s a big boy, he can do it! but no, he only pushed the thing once or twice, enough for a tiny sip. and then he’d look back at me, expectantly. so i went back again, and he drank once more, my hand still in the bowl pushing the plate. when he was done he let the excess water dribble from his mouth all over my jacket.

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