Youth is fleeting, but thoroughbred is forever

What prompted me to have this thought?

Harvey of course! We had 22" of snow, over the course of several days, earlier this month. I worried that Harv (who is not very sure-footed on packed snow or ice) might fall coming in from or going out to the pasture. What a waste of mental energy.

"I thought Harvey had arthritis"
I ran into of the weekday barn workers shortly after the snowfall. She said, "I thought Harvey had arthritis!" I assured her that he did, thinking of his shuffling walk and his little hitch at the trot. Well, he may be nearly 23 years old, but apparently he's not all that infirmed. Here's the story...

Post-snowfall turnout
The barn worker turned Harv and his buddy out into the freshly fallen, above-the-knee snow. They waded into it as much as they had to, both stood quietly at the gate all afternoon. When they went to bring them in, though, Harv (and only Harv) bolted away in alarm. Who knows why? No one could catch him, and he barrelled through the drifts, lifting his knees and hocks like a saddlebred, tail in the air, snorting loudly. When they did catch him he piaffed all the way back to the barn.

Well, okay it was probably a jig, not a piaffe. Still, I wish I coulda been there. It's cool that he's still got it in him :-).