We are different, I swear we are. I watched a woman today, at an endurance ride, the day before the run, wiping her horse's butt with a wet sponge. She meticulously cleaned the area, not missing a thing, and she did it out there in the open. Those horse butt cleaners have come out of the closet for all the world to see! And, nobody, but me, seemed to notice. I was sitting in a camping chair, drinking a beer, chatting with some friends, and I happened to watch her do all this; she never even glanced around to see if anyone was watching. I thought, nobody, except for me, is even looking at where she's putting her hands, and, if they were to watch, I'm probably the only one even thinking this might be an unusual activity to perform here in the woods, out in the middle of nowhere, on a bright shiny, clear blue sky, no cares in the world, Friday afternoon. But, in the world of endurance, where horse owners/riders are all really from another planet entirely (SHHHHH, Howard, keep your mouth shut about that), nothing could be more natural. This isn't the first time I've noticed something that seems to announce "we're different" at an endurance ride. A male friend of mine, at a ride, while grooming his gelding and simultaneously carrying on a conversation with me and a couple other riders, nonchalantly, reached up into his gelding's privates and started to put some sort of gel in there, doing a sort of dry, out in the field, impromptu sheath cleaning examination. The movement of his hands were so quick and so "normal" that it took me a second or two to realize what exactly he was doing. From the reaction of his gelding, I could tell this was a routine event for the two of them. The term "bonding with your horse" has elevated to a new dimension with endurance riders. And, what amazed me more than anything was he did this surrounded by 4 or 5 other males. Even more incredible was that none of the other men even seemed to notice. I couldn't help myself and had to say, "My goodness, James, I can't believe you're doing this here in front of the guys. Isn't this a private thing to do only when no one else is watching?" James laughed, but didn't stop his work, and continued rubbing, massaging, and dare I say it, stroking until he got what he was looking for, that infamous "bean." He actually held it out there between his index finger and thumb, for all the men to see. I was almost expecting applause. I truly believe if my father, a very non-horse person, proud to be heterosexual type male, were to see James do all this my Dad would pass out cold. I'm telling you we are different. There's just no other way I can think of how to describe it. Horse lovers are a bit tilted, leaning more towards that invisible windmill like Don Quixote, than away from it. We see things that others do not; we live in a world that is hard to fathom and impossible to explain. And, we love our horses like a mother does her first newborn. No matter what planet you are from, either Uranus or the Sheath Way Galaxy, I guess there's nothing wrong with that! Just try to remember that when you aren't with your fellow aliens, those earthlings do see us a bit differently. Try not to shock them too much; these poor folks have enough on their plate right now with the beltway sniper and world wide terrorism all running amok. The sight of you wiping your horse's butt or performing a sheath cleaning operation out there in the open, for all to see, might be the one that sends them over the edge. Please, be careful out there. cya, Howard (yea, I've always been a bit different too, so I kind of fit in here)
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