October 15th 2022

Greenhorns 

In use since the 15th century, the term “greenhorn” originally referred to a young ox or bull who was young and inexperienced, and whose horns hadn’t matured yet.

Friday afternoon I was drilling seed with Scooter and Scout. It was cool, windy afternoon, and all of the horses were a little more excited than usual with the change in the weather. In one section of the field Scout was jumpy. She would get high-headed, and take a couple little trotting steps through turns and I really had to work to keep them in hand. A bird erupted in flight from the soft ground and Scout ran a couple of steps before settling back into a walk. We paused, caught our breath and carried on. She continued much the same, tense and a little wired, until we finished that section of the field and moved on. I chose to put her with Scooter for quite a few reasons, but mainly because Scooter is a very calm influence. The seed drill is noisy, especially over the gravel road, and I wasn’t sure exactly how Scout was going to react to that. Most importantly, when Scout was thinking about nothing but high tailing it from the field, Scooter just plodded along without much notice. This is the benefit of hitching youngsters with more experienced horses. This is also the benefit of knowing your horses, their strengths and weaknesses, and trying to choose the right teams for the right jobs on the right day. I don’t always get it right, things don’t always happen how I expect. Scooter and Scout didn’t have a great time together, they were just a little fussy and dramatic, but when it mattered most, it worked. I think the lesson we can learn here is that it’s important to appreciate the individuality of the people in our circles. I still consider myself a lot like Scout. I’m still new at this work, I’ve got a lot yet to learn. I’m figuring it out, and a lot of days things are smooth and easy and I feel like I’m really finding my groove. And other days something sudden triggers worry or doubt, things fall apart momentarily, and I wonder how far I’ve really come. (Progress isn’t linear, so I don’t think this is worth dwelling on too much.) And this is one reason I’m grateful that I don’t farm alone. On days I struggle for whatever reason, I know my coworkers have my back, and it goes both ways. Working, or living, in community makes the whole system stronger. Not just stronger but better, richer, deeper. (This is one reason to continue pushing for more diversity in the workplace and beyond. Remind me to tell you about drawing comparisons between monocultures and diversity in the human world if this train of thought is interesting to you.) Today I am grateful to work with people who are continually filling in the gaps, teaching me, (I’m convinced people who have me as a student in any capacity get bonus points) and knowing me well enough to stay calm when I get a little frazzled. I’m hoping I do my part in return, and I have no doubts that after a few more seasons Scout and I will be plodding along like old pros, hopefully paying it forward and teaching other youngsters and remembering how much we’ve learned and all of the people and horses who supported us when we were still green.