The Conversation

The Conversation

First, I have to tell you about me and telephones.  I just can’t join this world where everyone seems to be attached to their smart telephone.  My main phone is my land line.  Believe it or not, my home has the old fashioned rotary phones that came with the house.  I am certain they are older than I am.  The voice quality is great, and my family never had one ounce of problems with them over all these years.  To save money, I discontinued my long distance service.  I use my cell phone for that.

I have real problems with cellphones  Where most people have the fancy smart phones, I have a cheap flip phone that I buy prepaid minutes for.  I only buy minutes about once a year, and I spend a fraction of what most people spend.  I tend to forget it, drop it and a few times I have lost it outside.  Sometimes I find them, and sometimes they still work, even if they get caught in the rain.  If it rings in the house, and I’m not around—Maggie, my dog, will grab it if she can and chew on it.  She did break one phone.  My previous dog, Pollie, was frightened of it, and would have anxiety attacks if she heard it.  Consequently, I usually have my phone turned off—and I don’t even know the number.  I have several spares, so if I lose one phone, I can just activate a new one. 

Judging by the emails I was getting, I could tell that the woman who wanted to give me the horse liked to talk.  I bought more minutes and activated my phone for international calls.  I am quite an introvert, and tend to get nervous when I first call people.  I took a deep breath and dialed the international code, followed instructions and dialed her phone number.  It said there was no service!  Was I in a dead zone or was she?  Talk about frustrating.  I tried a few more times, and finally it worked.  The phone was ringing.  What was I doing?

I don’t know if she noticed the few seconds of silence when she answered the phone—though I have perfect phone manners, I forgot what I was supposed to say.  Finally, I blurted out, “Is this Mrs. Shoes?  This is Judi.”  I did notice a couple of seconds of silence on her side, as she processed what I said—and then I was hit by a barrage of words.  Non-stop words.  An avalanche of words.  It was like talking to Kevin when he was wound up about something.  I immediately felt right at home.

To make the long story, short, she told me how much she wanted her horse to have a good home; where he would be well-trained, used, loved and cherished.  Where he wouldn’t be thrown away to the perils of the world—and we all know there are a lot of them for horses.  She liked the way I trained.  She has even used clicker training with dogs, so she understood the concept—something it haven’t found to be common in the horse world.  I will leave her to give you her side of the story.

She reassured me that he was a great horse with a good mind.  He just needed more training.  She said she would send me more pictures. 

She convinced me of her sincerity.  All she wanted was the best for her horse—the wasn’t a scam or someone trying to get rid of a useless horse.  This really might be as good as it sounded.

And then…click…nothing.  I ran out of the international time, I think.  Either that or I simply lost the signal, again.  I tried calling back, and I got the same message as before. 

I had so much to think about…