Okay, maybe not beer, but I find it completely amusing how my horse has gone from a “pasture pet” to a stalled little princess in the space of a few months. I’ve had my mare, Fortune, since she was three months old. She’ll be ten in August, so yeah, we’ve been together a while. And since generally she’s treated like my 1000-lb Barbie^TM (add to that the fact that I don’t ride), well she’s had a pretty cushy life. Hang out in the pasture with her buddies, get fed, grained, and can’t forget the horse cookies, then every once in a while be brought inside where she’s fussed over, brushed, made pretty, and then we walk around for 20 minutes or so.

In fact, when I was serious about Weight Watchers, I walked with her 20 minutes a night, several times a week, and that’s how I lost most of my weight. And, now that I’m working on training her, that’s how I plan to “get back in the saddle” when it comes to eating healthy and getting fit again.

But anyway…so in February, I brought Fortune inside. The ice storms we were having were horrific, and while she was fine, getting out to catch her in the pasture was becoming quite the skiing challenge. So she became a stall horse. She gets a smidge of grain now twice a day (Purina’s Omelene 100 for “active pleasure” horses, which frankly is being generous with her title, LOL! We’re doing the Purina Challenge because I love coupons and specials! LOL!), good hay, and turn out with her buddies when the weather is nice. She’s sleek, healthy (when she was outside, she was a plump pony because of standing around gossiping with her friends at the hay bale all day. Reminds me of office food days, really.) and her dapples cover her entire body, so she shimmers like a show horse. Even though she’s just my buddy.

Tonight, Fortune got a fan. Now you’d think that a horse who had lived outside her entire life, and was used to Iowa summers where it could be 99 degrees with 99.5% humidity, wouldn’t need a fan. But oh no, now that she’s indoors, and the barn does get stifling, even with all the doors open, she gets a fan on her stall for when she’s indoors.

How’d that song go? Whiskey for my men, and beer for my horses. I don’t know about you, but if my horse drank beer, I’m thinking it would be some fancy microbrew stuff. Or maybe, if she was desperate a Sam Adams Light (my preferred beer of choice). I think my horse is too common to drink that stuff that comes out of cans now that she’s a pampered princess.