Mouthy Monday with Autumnblaze

Autumnblaze sent this one in. I have really enjoyed getting to know her and her horse through her comments. Now we get to meet her through a story. I still need her blog address, thank you very much....I am going back into training mode for a couple of days, we'll start tomorrow. I hope everybody commments like crazy so we can get some things sorted out. Get your training hats on folks!

Here's her blog address -autumnblaze-fourleafclovers.blogspot.com

And in a second it was gone...

I was early. I was meeting my boss at a clients barn as it was closer to my
place than the office and we'd planned on a very early appointment.
This was a good client... but not just any client to me either.
You know those people you meet the first time, and you just know they'll be significant in your life? You don't know why or how but you know they will?
That's how these clients were.

I pulled in and said hello to the owner and the girl who worked there.
My boss was unsurprisingly late. I wandered up and down the
barn aisle - the horses were all still in. I held my hand up to nippy
nosey babies to smell me andscritch their curious Arab baby faces. I greeted the brood mares and popped in to say hello to a few I knew best with neck rubs. I checked my phone for the
time. Gave my boss a call, just to check.

'I just left 10 minutes ago, you're there?' Yep. No biggie, I surely
didn't mind waiting around at this barn.

Suddenly, my mind jumped to a certain horse in the barn. He was in the back part
of a massive foaling stall that had been divided. A
lmost hidden away, not forgotten but attention was limited for this horse these days, that I knew. I also knew I thought he was amazing.

I told the owner my boss was a good 20 minutes or so out and
asked if she'd mind if I groomed her eldest gelding. She happily agreed and pointed me to a bucket overflowing with currys, brushes, combs and hoof picks. I grabbed the necessary
paraphernalia and headed into the first half of the divided stall.
There was a 16 hand chestnut yearling, dripping with chrome and awkwardness.
He knew me as a friend though he was timid and nuzzled my hand. I scratched his neck and moved to the door in the divider.

The older geldings' ears perked up and he nickered deeply as
I unlatched the door to his stall. I closed it behind me and put down the
brushes on the dividers ledge only hanging on to the curry. I greeted the bay gelding with some scratches on the neck.

Suddenly he lunged forward at the yearling whose curious nature had led him to stretch his neck across the divider towards me.

The bay gelding was not pleased with the young upstart nosing into his space.
I was a little taken aback and fussed at the bay and popped him on the chest.
None of that with me in the stall! The pinned ears and grumpy face were less than
friendly but his expression softened quickly once the nosey chestnut retreated.

Standing there, waiting with no real purpose, currying the bay I, as is typical,
became quickly lost in my thoughts. I was taking in the lovely horse smell and
thinking through the days schedule as I stood facing the bays right side
currying away at his back and flank.

Whooooooooooshhh.

Right in my ear. Not a snort but what I interpreted as a blow, and not a
friendly one, right next to my face. I could feel the imposing nose just off of
my cheek. The ugly pinned eared, teeth barred lunge at the yearling popped into
my mind. I had come into the stall with this relatively strange horse and
assumed that he would be enjoying my currying him, I had just corrected him...
and his teeth were a half inch from my face and he just blew.

My heart hesitated. My breathe caught. Oh shit, the pain is coming was all that
I could think.

Suddenly the breath got hotter and was on my cheek. I had not had the time to
react, and if I had for some reason I had frozen in my boots. I was sure
however, this would not end well...

Slllluuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpppppppppp.

Chin to ear. He licked me chin. to. ear. And cocked his head just so I was
looking right into his eye. He looked as if he were smiling gratefully at me
with a mischievously satisfied twinkle in his eye.

I took one step back, drew a breath and about fell over in a fit of laughter. I
couldn't help but laugh at my reaction and misinterpretation of his intentions
but mostly his expression afterward. I hugged his neck and kept currying until
my boss arrived. He was obviously an appreciative horse. In one big wet horse
slurp my heart was gone.

A girl had found her horse... and a horse had found his girl.