Dreaming on a cool spring night

I let Salsa and Rock hang out in the arena this evening while I had dinner and a DVD with a friend. When I went out just before midnight, Salsa was ready to return to his pen to eat the rest of his dinner. But Rocky was curled up in the cool sand and asked me, quite clearly, for more time before he had to get up.

I hunkered down next to him and rested my eyes for a while.

He lay flat and dreamed and I saw all of his eyelids twitching, while he made cute little sounds. His eyeball was visible most of the time, flickering and shifting, obviously not seeing anything outside of his mind. I’ve never been close to a horse in REM sleep. So interesting!

(This video is probably excruciatingly boring to anyone but me and immediate Rocky family, but scroll ahead to about 1:35 to hear the cute sounds.)

He’s dead, Jim!

Eventually, I haltered him and asked him to get up so we could walk back to his pen for the night (for which he earned a cookie). But how cool to have relaxed with him for half an hour or so at midnight, with only the occasional ranch sound to accompany our shared breath.