Mother's Day

The sunshine woke up early today or so it seemed. She creeped over the horizon line trying not to wake the babies who were sleeping at the feet of their mothers. Slowly, as if she were embarrassed of her brilliance, she spread across the ground toward the sleeping foals. One by one, each pair was bathed in her invisible warmth. The mares stood quietly as the sun crawled up their rumps, across their backs, and then past their ears. Each of them stood like a statue with her sleeping foal curled into a ball at her front feet. They dozed as a group knowing that they were safe but instinct demanded that they stand guard over their respective offspring.

As if they came to life with the either the warmth or the glow of the sun, each small horse opened his eyes and yawned. Long legs stretched and the sound slumber shared by all infants fell away to welcome the day. As each foal rose to stand beside his mother, the sun now looked across the meadow at them. Quiet suckles filled the stillness of the morning and the mothers fed their babies. It was Mother's Day- but the horses did not know it. They began each day much the same.