Found Them!

Late in the afternoon one day, I ran an errand. While on the ranch lane, I looked out at the pony pasture. My Fell Pony mares were at the base of the hill and starting to ascend, so I noted their location. Then an hour or so later, I went out just before sunset to wish them good night like I usually do.

I walked to where I had seen them, but they weren’t visible. The weather had begun to change, so I figured they had climbed the hill to get in the trees and out of the wind. I did the same, eventually gaining a flat spot about two thirds of the way up where they sometimes hang out but aren’t visible from below. But they weren’t there, and I couldn’t tell if they had been; there wasn’t enough snow to capture their tracks.

I walked to the western edge of the flat spot, and the little snow that I found was undisturbed. Since the ponies didn’t usually go that way and the light was starting to fail, I decided to take my chances heading east which was toward home anyway. After walking for five minutes and not seeing them or any sign of them, I decided to start descending toward home, concluding that greeting my friends wasn’t meant to be that evening.

Part way down the hill, though, my luck changed. I came upon fresh tracks in snow crossing the hill to the east. I followed the trail, and after a few minutes I emerged around a bulge in the hill and saw them back in a protected nook. Apparently when the weather had begun to change, they had moved to this sheltered place. I felt triumphant having found them using my tracking skills, and I admired their choice of location. Such smart ponies!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2021

You can find more stories like this one in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.