Three weeks home.

Annie & June have been home for three weeks today. This was longer than they were at the farm we bought them from. (Their owner moved away and couldn’t take all of the horses so these girls were moved to a neighboring farm and put up for sale.) For the first two weeks every time I reached out to touch June she would brace herself or flinch, unsure what to expect of physical contact from me. They eat in 4-foot-wide tie stalls so we’ve had to get comfortable sharing a tight space. She responds happily to scratches, but always seems surprised when I am aware and responsive to her own feelings and communication. The other day I said her name and her ear flicked back toward me for the first time. Annie on the other hand has never been shy or fearful and will absorb any and all affection and follows me asking for scratches, I’ve also been working out some tension in her shoulders and she will just immediately go into zen mode. We still have a long way to go to get them up to weight and building muscle tone, but they are gaining weight and they are more aware and content then they were when they came home. We’re all a little roughed up from the world. From whoever left them behind…whoever gave up on them… and I’ve said that a lot about getting terminated... “They had to give up on me- I didn’t give up on them.” And maybe that’s true for these girls too. Because they are still here, kind and willing to work. Someone said you weren’t enough. I don’t know the rest of the herd you were in, what choices they made. But I don’t have to. They were wrong. Because here, to me, you’re perfect. And maybe here is where I belong too.