you'll learn

i had to fly to work today after my daughter's riding lesson, so i helped her brush down the horse. velvet. sigh.

anyway, i've never groomed a horse before, and i'm doing the hind quarter and my girl is on the other side when the tail lifts slightly. i'm brushing her rump and my girl says,

move away from the tail mom.

cause i'm just standing there waiting to see what will happen next (didn't learn anything from the sneeze, i guess).

and i don't see or hear anything. my sniffer ain't that great, and my daughter says,

she farted.

and the trainer (cowgirl, horse instructor, what do you call those people?) and another girl mucking out stalls laugh. one calls out,

it's a sign of affection.

and i can't smell a thing--seriously.

but i walk around to put the blanket on, because it had just started snowing, and walk right into the zone.

yikes.

talk about aromatic. apparently her farts go left because i was on the right side and couldn't smell it, but my daughter was in the pocket and still had to pick out the hooves in that stench.

so we're driving home and i said to my girl,

thank you for telling me to move.

she said,

you'll learn.

like she's an old pro.

i love that kid. even when she irritates me, she's such a wise old soul.

she asked me once why i was so happy, this was the day after my debut poetry read in nyc, and i said,

because i'm doing what i was created to do.

when we drive away from the stables, she says,

it just feels right. me being on horses.

her instructor told her today that she'll make a fine horsewoman someday.

this pleases me, because i had and still probably have no idea what i want to be when i grow up.

my girl wants to be a vet, or do something with horses.

more power to you, i say.

and i will do what i can to make that happen. a bit of a distance for us at the moment, but it will not always be so.

i see a future full of horses.

and a lifetime of laughter ahead.