I love to travel. And right now, I'm writing this blog post from a tiny Internet cafe (basically a little room with several computers) in Hanoi, Vietnam. Once a year, my husband and I set off on some crazy adventure, and this year, we've chosen the exotic, wild and totally different country of Vietnam.
But this traveling causes me some problems. It's not at all easy to leave three horses, two dogs, two goats and three cats at home. Mostly because finding someone reliable to take care of that herd is a little difficult, even more so now that my most reliable house sitter up and got married. I know it's selfish of me to think that--in fact, she'd been hinting about getting married for some time now, and she finally did it. But in any case, she did me the favor of taking care of the animals for part of this trip, and she periodically writes me an email to let me know how things are going since she knows I worry incessantly about the horses when I'm gone. Face it, I'm a control freak when it comes to caring for my horses, and you can't exercise much control from the other side of the Pacific Ocean. She knows this about me, and indulges me with these updates.
Baleno has gone off to the trainer's for two weeks, so she can help me figure out what's freaking us both out. She wrote me a nice little report the other day, letting me know that the problem with Baleno is that he's essentially insecure, poor guy. He needs a much bigger ego to be a dressage horse, so she's working on that. In fact, she wrote that she told him he had a "sexy walk"--you know, a hip swinging, long strided walk--and he got all confident and proud of himself. Interesting observation.
In the meantime, I'm sure everyone will be fine while I'm gone. The reality is, as long as they're getting two square meals a day and a little grass, they're a pretty happy, easy bunch. And my caretakers love them as much as I do (well, maybe not as much, but at least a little). It will always be both a blessing and a curse to be obsessed with horses--a blessing for what they bring to my life, and a curse that I worry so much about them when my traveling feet get their wings. Check back next week for a report on the Hmong horses of northern Vietnam.
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