Conrad Boyce is the editor and publisher of the Cosmos. He has a BA in English from the University of Alberta and a diploma in journalism from Grant Macewan Community College in Edmonton. He lived and worked in the Yukon and Vancouver Island before arriving in Ontario in 1995. Beyond these pages, he is the Artistic Director of OnStage Uxbridge, and the technical manager of the Uxbridge Music Hall.
Lily's tale
I suppose the first thing I should tell you is that the white-haired guy to the left isn’t really writing the column this week. After he forgot to bring me a carrot a couple of weeks ago, he promised me that I could write one some day if I’d like to. I guess he noticed that I had a bit of a literary look to me - like some of those beat poets from the 60s and 70s - at least more than the rest of the characters that share my pasture down on Wagg Road. But more about them a little later.
So anyway, my name is Lily and I thought I’d tell you a little about what life is like in my world. That’s me in the other photo to the left. It was taken when the pasture was still pretty snowy a couple of months ago. It’s not snowy any more, of course, which is fine with me. But all these hot temperatures lately are a bit premature, you can’t expect a girl to shed her winter coat that quickly!
As you’ve probably figured out, I’m a horse, but I’m a pretty small one. I weigh a little more than a hundred pounds, about the same as a big dog. If the picture was in colour, you’d be able to tell that I’m a lovely shade of chocolate brown, and white, and my mane is kind of ash blonde, like the best kind of movie star. I’m about four years old, which makes me a lot younger than the other two horses in my pasture, Ben and Pegasus, but a lot older than the cows, Roy and Dale, who are actually pretty mature as bovines go, but just between you and me, not the brightest ungulates on the grass.
Ben and Pegasus are much more clever, at least on their good days. They’re both geldings, which Ben says is a shame, since I’m so cute and all, but of course I wouldn’t know anything about that. Despite his gelding-ness, Pegasus still gets pretty jealous when Ben gets near me, so Ben and I mostly chat through the fence. The pasture at Farmer Fred’s place, where I’m currently boarding, is actually three fields, two pretty big ones and a littler one near the barn. In the winter, Ben and Peg and I got to spend the nights in the barn, which was nice and cozy (Roy and Dale were still outside in the shed). And I was especially lucky, because my stall was the same size as the boys’! I guess a full-size horse used to live there once, but Ben doesn’t talk about him much. Ben doesn’t talk much at all, actually. Only when he’s got something important to say, I suppose.
We get fed twice a day, at least for now until the grass grows in the pasture, which won’t be long now if this weather keeps up. Most of the time, Farmer Fred feeds us, and fills our water buckets, and cleans up after us (he calls it “mucking out”, and it’s kind of a yucky business, although not so much with a delicate little creature like me). But sometimes Lisa, who is Peg’s owner, comes instead, and she’s a very nice lady who seems to know a thing or two about horses, and is quite scrupulous about making sure that Peg gets all brushed and combed. She hasn’t done the same for me, so it’s a good thing, I guess, that I’m just naturally beautiful and don’t really need as much attention.
Apparently, Lisa came up lame back in January, so we haven’t seen her around the barn much lately (which is a shame, because she told me once she likes the smell of the barn better than anything - I agree!) In her place, she sent the white-haired guy. He means well, but Ben says you can tell he hasn’t spent much time in a barn. When he’s mucking out, for instance, he’ll often miss a spot here and there, and he often feeds me a bit too much, which isn’t good for my figure. I imagine he does it because he likes me best.
The other day, he told me Lisa was feeling better, and sure enough, she came out on her own this week for the first time in like, forever! But I hope he still comes with her sometimes, I think they make a cute couple.
Anyway, with spring here, especially so amazingly warm, we won’t be spending much time in the barn any more. And that suits me very well. There’s nothing I like better than running around the pasture. I know if they tried, Ben and Peg could run faster than me, but mostly they’re pretty lazy, so I just chase my own tail.
To tell you the truth, I couldn’t think of a much better way to spend my days than just wandering up and down my pasture in the sunshine, talking to the boys and the cows and the birds that come by. I even struck up a nice conversation with a raccoon once, I think she liked meeting a horse that was a bit closer to the ground like her. That’s the thing about the pasture, every day is different, it’s all quite unpredictable.
I suppose one day I might go somewhere else. I heard Farmer Fred say one day that the cows wouldn’t be here by the fall. I’ll miss them, but maybe new friends will come in their place. It’s all part of the changing seasons. Makes you glad to be alive, and to live in a barn - or a pasture.
