Tucker is my horse and he is very special to me. Every morning, before I go to work, I walk over to the stables to give him some carrots and to chat to him. What a wonderful way to start the day.
Tucker came to me six months ago when I decided that I would try to re-learn my riding skills. It would be some exercise and fresh air for me. My riding skills, though, still need a lot of brushing up and I feel that I should get some lessons. I have taken a few rides around the hotel grounds but I still need some confidence training! Meanwhile Tucker and I are building up a firm friendship.
I know all his funny habits. Being only three years old, he is the junior horse in the stables and acts like a teenager, sometimes getting a nip on the rump for his cheekiness. He also likes to eat the fresh green grass in one of the paddocks and will stand near to the gate nibbling his carrots but eying the grass beyond the gate. Of course, I usually give into those pleading brown eyes and let him in for a while. In the meantime I am clutching the forgotten carrots.
The other horses in the stables belong to our riding company. The horses can be hired out for a ramble through the National Park around the hotel. They are also used to pull carriages around the hotel grounds and this is very popular with children.
We have a team of stable hands and riders who look after all the horses including Tucker. They pamper and pet them; they take them for rides. But on Sundays, my day off work from the hotel, I don my scruffy clothes, get out the buckets, shampoo, brushes and combs and give Tucker my undivided attention. He is bathed and brushed; he is cuddled and petted. I sometimes think that he would prefer to be naughty and roll in the mud because he gives me that look as if to say: you just wait until you have gone. I am going to get all dirty again.
I sometimes try to remember what I used to do on my Sundays. All I know is that it must have been an extremely boring life without Tucker. I can’t imagine being without him now.
