Jenny's First Night: Coyote's Goodbye Serenade

On the other side of our east fence, near the small barn for Renn, was a den of coyotes who had lived there for many years, according to the neighbors.  Every night they had yipped and howled, alarming my horse and startling the newly-transplanted city-dwellers.  After Jenny arrived, she explored the pasture and fences, accompanied by her new fan, Renn.  Down the back fence she marched, stopping occasionally to point her ears toward the brushy forest where bobcats and possibly cougar lived.  I realize now that she was establishing her boundaries, already promising that we would be safe with her on the job.  Rounding the back corner, she came up the east fence where the coyotes lived in the dense forest.  Stopping, she looked back at Renn, turned and pointed those beautiful ears to the east, intent and focused.   Darkness was falling by then, and the two equines went back to graze.  As soon as it was dark, the yipping and howling coyotes told us goodbye.  I was raised on a farm, and was familiar with the sound, but this was intense, loud and long.  The next day they were gone.  Also, the snakes that had been on our patio each morning were gone.  Jenny had done her work quickly and quietly.  She walks tall for a short girl.