pic of the day - horse

I'm scared of horses. Have I mentioned this before? I can't remember.

I think they are magnificent looking beasts, and (when I can bring myself to stroke them) they have the most velvety soft top lips. But I don't usually like to get too close to them - and I very much prefer to have some sort of barrier between them and me.

I can't bear to watch horse-racing, because I can't stand the sight of a pocket sized human being beating the cr*p out of a fine example poetry in motion horse-dom which is already running as fast as it can.

There are some horses in a field near Jessie's 'school'. We even have sessions during which the dogs are expected to behave themselves near horses. I am making huge progress in overcoming my fear and hope to put it behind me (as I have done with sailing and boats in general), but I still have to ask the facilitator to hold Jessie's leash during these sessions, so as not to communicate my fear to her.

I stopped to take a photo of them today on my way home from class. I'm not sure if the fact that this horse is white with small brown spots still qualifies it to be a skewbald.

As I took the shot, the horse shook its head, and I muttered at it for being a bad subject. But looking at the photos now, I like this one the most. There is a vitality to it that the other, more traditional shots lack.