We all celebrated thanksgiving last week the horses stayed in their stalls that rainy day. I had wanted to ride Nitro for a thanksgiving ride but the food and weather put an end to that idea. I went to the barn to check on the horses and offer them a little extra hay which they enjoyed to help pass their time in. I wondered if they had anything to be thankful for. They were all taken care of but are so like prisoners in a jail, yet none of us would enjoy jail. In a way I guess we're all prisoners. What should we be celebrating this Thanksgiving, freedom? No.. we're all committed to our toil to earn enough to pay our bills, yet horses have no bills. Maybe they are freer then we. Nitro surely had the answer so I went into his stall and mind-melded with him. He basically wanted all the food and snacks he could beg, steal, or con me out of, searching my hands and pockets for a morsel. I patted his head and spoke to him yet he was uninterested. He tolerates me just as when we are tacking up and riding. He comes to me from the paddock and accepts his chore. I think he even looks forward to our rides because we always stop for fresh grass, but he'd just as well rather go it alone I'm sure. I'm just the means for him to get there but if I leave his gate open he could do it alone. I think I shall be thankful for horses for it's really about us. It's us who get to ride them, relieve our souls to them, spank them, pet them, run the hell out of them. Yes they tolerate all we do to them. Nitro tells me it's OK, he's a horse and he understands.  I'm thankful for horses.