THE ADVENTURES OF
TINK AND FRADO:
Tink and His Friends
THINK SPRING
by Lynda McCann
Lily deposited Tink back into his stall after their ride. It was
raining rather heavily so the horses were all in their stalls
(again). Tink politely accepted his apple and carrot from Lily
and enjoyed her farewell hug. It didn’t help his mood
though.
“I’m sick of going around and around in
circles in the indoor ring!” he shouted into the silence after
Lily’s departure. “Isn’t it ever going to
really be spring? Aren’t we ever going outside again?
Where is the sun, the heat, the dry ground? Where are the
picnics, the cross country courses, the trail rides? That’s
it! I’m never going in that indoor ring
again!!” He stopped to catch his breath and looked around
to see what reaction he got from the other horses.
None. No one paid any attention at all.
They all knew exactly what Tink meant; they’d said it many times
to themselves. No one wanted to pay any attention to Tink’s
attitude when they each had an attitude of their own. Everyone
just continued snoring gently or munching listlessly on their
hay. Even little Frado just sighed and turned over in his doggie
bed in front of Tink’s stall.
Tink gave up. His frustration with mud season
had not lessened at all, but what could he do? Everyone was sick
of it and no one could do a thing about it. Or so it seemed.
The next day was a beautiful one, warm and sunny,
although it still seemed that Maine existed only in shades of
brown. The horses at least got to go out, although they were not
able to do much. They slopped around in the mud and they ate hay
off the mud. The one bright spot was that they were able to roll
in the mud to their hearts content and it soothed the itching of their
shedding coats. They did enjoy seeing who could look the
worst. Tink usually won that contest since he was white and
therefore exhibited the greatest change in his looks when covered with
mud. Also, he was a very good roller.
Finally, after a very long day, the horses saw the
school bus pull up out at the street. Several children got off,
Tink, Babette, and Percy’s girls among them. Following the
daily routine the three horses were gathered up in their field and
cross-tied in the barn for grooming and tacking up.
Lily sighed as she brushed Tink without much
enthusiasm. “What shall we work on today?” she asked
no one in particular.
“Circles?” suggested Erin somewhat sarcastically.
Susie threw her brush dramatically to the bar
floor. “I’m sick of going around and around in
circles in the indoor ring!” she shouted. “I’m
not doing it today. I’m not. I’m going on a
trail ride! Anyone want to come?” Susie’s eyes
shone with the sparkle that the others all knew and loved. They
were in for an adventure!
“Me!” blurted Erin without hesitation.
“I want to go too! Can Miss Muffin and I
go too?” This from Mark who was just coming in the door.
Susie was not about to let anything put a damper on
her idea, now that she’d had it, not even the presence of her
little brother. Mark hadn’t been on many trail rides yet in
his young life, but Susie knew that this wouldn’t be a fast one
and thus might be perfect for Mark. “Of course you can come
too,” she replied kindly.
“I can?” Mark was surprised, both at
being allowed to go with the girls, and even more at being on the
receiving end of such sweetness from his big sister. He ran to
get Miss Muffin ready before Susie could change her mind.
“Are you out of your mind?” a passing
barn worker asked Susie. “Those are not trails out there;
those are rivers of mud. You’ll disappear into a sea of mud
and never be seen again.”
“We’ll be careful and we’ll stick
to the main trails,” Susie replied, “but we have to get out
of here!”
“Be back before dark and don’t do
anything stupid,” the barn worker replied more seriously.
“I don’t want to have to send anyone out after you.
No one else is crazy enough to want to go out there.”
The three girls and Mark headed out. Their
ponies moved slowly and carefully in the muddy footing, but from the
looks on the four human and four equine faces, they might as well have
been galloping. Eyes shone and there was a big smile on every
face. The children’s cheeks glowed pink from fresh spring
air already.
Some horses would have been prancing and
dancing. These horses were very well trained and polite and they
did a good job of minding their manners, but their walks had as much
spring and bounce as was physically possible. Even Miss Muffin,
normally a model of slow decorum, was perky and full of zip.
They walked along the edge of a field towards the
woods where the trails began. “This isn’t too
bad.” Erin cheerfully remarked. The mud sucked a bit at the
horse’s feet, and it was slightly slippery so they had to walk
carefully, but it was really much better than the girls had thought it
would be.
“We should have a very nice walk if this is
the way the footing is going to be.” Susie added optimistically.
They entered the big wide trail in the woods and got
a very pleasant surprise. More of an unused road than a trail,
the gravel base of the trail gave it excellent drainage. It was
wet but not a bit slippery or deep. The kids looked at each other
and smiled. This was going to be even better than they thought!
“OK to trot, Mark?” Susie asked.
“Oh yeah! Oh, man, this is going to be great.” Mark was enthusiastic.
Susie and Percy broke into an easy trot. Tink
swung along behind Percy, humming a happy tune to his rhythmic one-two,
one-two beat. Miss Muffin trotted along quickly on her short
little legs in order to keep up. She and Mark were bouncing along
frantically to meet the easy pace of the horses ahead, but neither were
complaining. They were both having the time of their life.
Erin and Babette brought up the rear, keeping an eye on Mark.
This happy little spring fling lasted only two
minutes or so before the horses rounded a corner and found the trail
deteriorating into mud. Percy went around the corner and
immediately began slipping on the muddy footing. He came down to
a walk as quickly as he could without sliding. Unfortunately it
wasn’t quite quickly enough. Miss Muffin came around the
corner in her quick trot and it only took a split second for all four
feet to slide right out from under her. She went right down on
her side, hitting the mud with a loud slapping sound. Mark
instinctively pulled his leg up as Miss Muffin went down so she
didn’t land on it. Neither he nor Miss Muffin had a hard
fall; they were not hurt at all and both scrambled to their feet right
away, but what a mess! Miss Muffin was her normal paint self on
one side, and seal-brown on the other. Mark was just plain muddy
all over. The girls almost instantly realized that no one was
hurt and burst out laughing at the sight in front of them.
Susie, in a wonderful mood and not about to let
anyone spoil this special ride, saw the tears begin to well up in her
brother’s eyes.
“You know... I never knew you were so brave,” she stated to Mark.
“Huh?” he replied, confused.
“I mean you just fell down with your pony, and
you didn’t even cry! I always thought you were a little
crybaby, but I guess I was wrong. I guess you’re a pretty
tough guy after all!”
This sudden compliment shocked Mark right out of his tears. He
mounted back up on Miss Muffin who had stood quietly waiting for
whatever would happen next. “Well… I’m going
to be a cowboy, you know. I’ve got to be tough.”
Mark’s chest puffed up with pride.
“I guess we’d better go back, huh?” Erin asked Mark.
“No way!! I’m tough; I can take it. Let’s go,” exclaimed Mark.
The girls smiled at each other as they fell back
into line and Susie found to her surprise that she was actually a tiny
bit proud of her brother.
The ride deteriorated from that point on. The horses walked along
carefully. It wasn’t as slippery now as it was just plain
deep in mud, and it sucked at their feet and pulled at their
shoes. Every few strides someone would sink a leg in an
especially deep spot and have to heave it out with great effort.
Mud would fly everywhere and everyone, children and horses alike, were
becoming covered with the splattered goo. At one point both of
Miss Muffin’s back legs went down in a soft spot, sinking up to
the hocks in the sticky, gooey stuff.
‘Susie, Miss Muffin’s stuck!” Mark yelled, a slight touch of panic in his voice.
“She can probably get out, Mark.” Susie
said soothingly. “Just give her plenty of rein and let her
figure it out.”
Mark wanted to jump off and walk home. He
wanted to be tough too. Tough won. He dutifully gave Miss
Muffin the reins and a little encouragement. She put her head way
down and gave a mighty heave, pulling her hind end free. A couple
of little kicks and the worst of the mud flew off (and landed on the
horses and children nearby.) Mark gave the girls a shaky smile
that tried to say “See? It was nothing,” but actually
said, “That was scary.”
A few minutes later Tink got all four feet in some
deep mud. Lily had to jump off and pull herself out of the mud,
take the reins over Tink’s head, and then give him plenty of
encouragement as he pulled and heaved until he finally lurched his way
loose and onto solider ground.
Another time they reached a stream. Normally
the stream was just a trickle but now there was water in it and it was
moving fairly fast. The horses had to each sit and slide their
way down two feet or so into the water, then carefully walk
through the very cold, splashing water to the other side, then leap
quickly through the mud on the other side.
Both the horses and children were very glad when
they reached the road. What should have been a ten minute stroll
through the woods had taken 25 minutes and the horses were very tired.
The stroll down the road and back to the barn was
uneventful. Everyone was grateful for that. They dismounted
at the barn and led their horses in. There were two barn workers
in the barn, and three horse owners. All stopped what they were
doing and stared open mouthed at the intrepid trail riders.
“What?” Susie said, and turned to look
at the others. The four children looked about as if seeing each
other for the first time. They were quite a sight, as were their
horses. All were splattered from head to toe with only their eyes
showing through. Miss Muffin and Mark were more mud than
mammal. All four children burst out laughing and everyone else
quickly joined in.
“Was it really as awful as it looks?” asked a barn worker.
“Awful? No! It was wonderful!” exclaimed Erin.
“We had lots of fun!” added Mark.
“I loved it!” from Lily.
“It’s spring,” finished Susie.
It was a lot of work to clean up. The
horses’ legs were hosed off and then rubbed down with
towels. The children went to the house to wash up and change
clothes, and then had to come down to the barn to brush the then-dried
mud out of their horses’ coats. And they didn’t
forget to scrub down and condition their tack either. They
realized the horses could have been hurt, so bad were the conditions in
the woods. They wouldn’t do it again. But the horses
hadn’t been hurt, everything had worked out fine, and somehow
just being out there banished the remains of winter and made spring
very real. The children, and their four horses, all felt as it a
dark cloud had been lifted from them.
The trail ride seemed to bring spring with it.
Suddenly people began working in the outdoor ring – it was wet
but manageable—and horses were spotted moseying down the
road. Everyone cheered up and took on a new, fresh
attitude. Even Mother Nature cooperated it seemed. Trees
began to bud out and suddenly the world took on a tinge of bright
green. Once again, as it had every other year, the promise of
spring turned into the reality of spring and horses and riders alike
celebrated.
