Hrimmi and Tyra had the following conversation as I, for a second time today, lead them back up the road and put them back in the yard. Twice, the escapees left the property. The first time, Hrimmi, Tyra, and Ruadi walked out the driveway gate and grazed on our property. The second time, Hrimmi and Tyra turned left and moseyed on into a neighbor’s yard,and began grazing. I knew that Shadow would alert when she saw them, and she did.

Hrimmi: Here we go, back into the yard.
Tyra: Yep. This is the second time around. This makes us recidivists.
Hrimmi: What’s a recidivist?
Tyra: A criminal who when freed, commits the same crime a second time.
Hrimmi: How do you know this?
Tyra: I pay attention to such things.
Hrimmi: So do I.
Tyra: Okay. I heard Alys and Pete indirectly define the term when we were at the CTR.
Hrimmi: Was the horse the recidivist?

Hrimmi and Tyra

Tyra: Yes. She tossed her rider multiple times.
Hrimmi: And what became of her?
Tyra: They broke her of the habit by habitually round penning her. She got really tired running around and around. Then her owner rode her. She finally figured out that if she behaved, she would not be forced to run around and around the round pen.
Hrimmi: Isn’t that called joining up?
Tyra: Yes. But humans view this differently than horses. Horses give in and are said to then have bonded with the person doing the round pen, but in actuality, it’s just a survival mechanism. The horse still abhors the person with the rope.
Hrimmi: So once a criminal, always a criminal?
Tyra: It depends of course who you are talking about, the owner or the horse. The owner is of course a criminal in that he or she is making the horse do something that is against its nature. The horse is criminal in that if it knows it can, it will toss the owner like a salad. However, the prospect of having again to go around and around is a sound deterrent.
Hrimmi: Gosh Tyra, you sure are smart.
Tyra: But not smart enough to get into law school.
Hrimmi: You getting into law school has nothing to do with how smart you are. It has to do with the fact that you are a p-o-n-y.
Tyra: No, no, no. I am a H-O-R-S-E.
Hrimmi: Huh?
Tyra: This is what Raudi told me. In Iceland, we are considered to be horses, not ponies. This is because we do everything that horses do.
Hrimmi: Yes, except plow fields.
Tyra: That’s right. We do love to graze.
Hrimmi: There is no way I’d ever walk through a field of clover and not sample the goods.
Tyra: Amen, sister.
Hrimmi: Like now!

Hrimmi, who is haltered, and on the lead rope, lunges for the grass on the side of the road.

Tyra: You are a grazing recidivist!
Hrimmi: You know what my adage is.
Tyra: What is it?
Hrimmi: Chow time is now time!

Next: 262. 9/26/24: Thoughts while Riding Horses