Crunching and Croaking

There was a distinct smell. It smelled decrepit, rotten, mildewy, dusty. All the things that make an old barn look, smell, and act like an old barn. Depending on the time and day, leather crunches and croaks from the lesson ring; nails echo and pound into a horse's hoof; hooves clunk and clack on the cement aisle ways; grain races into the plastic holding bins. They watch and listen for your every move. Some recognize faces, others recognize sounds. Some are fatter than others and of course, my favorites are those fatter, fluffier ones.