A Horse Bit Me! (Animal Story 10)

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Some years ago I persuaded my husband to spend our summer holidays in a seaside resort on the German North Sea coast. I used to live in the north of Germany for some years, not near the coast but quite high up in the north and yearned for the landscape. The flattest plains imaginable where the highest elevation is the dyke which protects the salt meadows from the floods of the North Sea and the rivers flowing into it. Destiny had sent me to the South of the country where it is hilly which some people find picturesque - me not being one of them. Persuading him was a hard piece of work. He comes from Sardinia, an Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea where the summers are *always* hot. When he finally succumbed, I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. It couldn't have been worse! The highest temperature was 12°C (53,6°F). During the day! In August! Anyway. One day we were going for a walk on the dyke. I decided to take a photo of the wide, empty landscape when I saw a horse grazing on a meadow. I intended to have it in the foreground with the wide, empty meadow behind it to get an impressive photo. The meadow was accessible. I thought it would be polite to introduce myself to the horse in order not to frighten it. It had a rope round its neck and was tied to a pole. It wasn't a big horse so I wasn't afraid of it although I'm not a horse person. I went near, said, "Hello, horse. I'm going to take a photo of the meadow with you in the foreground. I hope you don't mind." The horse lifted its head, then lowered it a bit which looked like nodding which, as everyone knows, means agreement. I made another step forward, the horse did the same and bit me in my right lower arm. Then it went on grazing as if nothing had happened. The mean beast! Due, or rather thanks, to the very cold summer, I had several layers of clothes on, a blouse, a cardigan and an anorak. The bite only resulted in a bruise which didn't hurt too much. Yet, I was miffed nevertheless as you can imagine. I decided there and then not to continue my career as a photographer of unknown animals. P.S. A friend of ours went to the same resort two weeks later and came back with a sunburn. --- If you're interested in more animal stories, click on the green box above the title.