The Christmas Filly (by Daris Howard)

After getting in around two in the morning from helping Jackie, the mare, give birth to her new little filly, I was exhausted. I ate quickly and went to bed. But I didn’t dare sleep too long. The temperature was below zero, and the wind cut right through you. By around six, I was up again and on my way to check on the baby. When I got back to the horse barns, I was glad to see all was well. Jackie was an old, experienced mother, and she had her baby snuggled by her inside the barn. The barn only had walls on three sides, but I had put straw on most of the fourth side, leaving a door barely big enough for a horse to go in and out. The straw had done a good job blocking the wind. There were a few extra spots between the bales, so I stuffed loose straw into them to block them off even more. Jackie also lay on the side of her baby to block what breeze got through. Though the baby, having come from California, didn’t have the thick winter hair I was used to on horses in the north, the baby blanket I had wrapped and tied around her seemed to be keeping her warm. When the sun came up enough for me to see, I adjusted the little blanket and snugged it up. As I was working, old Cyrus, a retired cowboy who lived in the apartments across the street, came over. He liked to come and give me advice on everything from politics to the weather, but he mostly talked about horses. He was especially happy to see the new baby. “Wow!” he said. “I have never seen a baby horse born with so little hair in the winter.” “It’s probably because of her and her mother being in California until only a little while ago,” I said. “I didn’t think about that making a difference, but it must have.” “That’s a right innovative way to keep it warm,” he said. “What’s on the little blanket?” “Teddy bears,” I replied. “It is an old one we had for our daughter.” As I continued working, Cyrus disappeared, then returned with about half the residents of the apartment complex. There were a couple of other old ranchers who came over regularly, but I didn’t know most of the individuals. There were lots of people coming all day long. I worked all day trying to get things ready so I wouldn’t have to do too much on Christmas, which was in a couple of days. I got home late in the afternoon. My almostthree- year-old daughter, Celese, had learned about the baby horse from her mother and was excited. “Go see hosey?” she asked. “We’ll go tomorrow,” I told her. “Tonight, we need to go shopping.” I desperately needed new shoes, since mine had holes and let snow through. My wife, Donna, bundled up the baby, and the four of us headed to the store. When we got to the shoe section, there was the cutest pair of little cowgirl boots just Celese’s size. I just had to see how she would look. We tried them on her, and they were cute. But when we went to put them back, she cried. “You know,” I said to Donna, “I think I can make my old shoes work for a while longer.” I knew we didn’t have money for both. What I didn’t know was that Donna was afraid I wouldn’t spend money on new shoes and had found me a pair for Christmas from the want ads. The next day, when we went to see the baby horse, Celese was so proud to wear her boots. She was especially proud when Cyrus told her how good she looked in them. “And you have a new baby horse for Christmas, too,” Cyrus said.