Down in Albuquerque’s far south valley, there’s a lovely shady spot along the bike trail with a pasture, home to a single horse. Frequently the horse can be found over along the trail, poking his head through the fence to watch the cyclists.

This morning, as I passed I saw a guy who had pulled his bike over and stopped. He was feeding the horse.

I rode on, and a few minutes later the guy caught up with me. I asked him what he fed the horse – imagining Power Bars or something.

“Horse cookies,” he said. Turns out he has horses of his own, and has these little baked horse treats that they love. So whenever he’s headed on a ride down by the pasture, he sticks a couple of horse cookies in his pocket. He whistles as he rides by, then makes a quick turn around and by the time he gets back, the horse is over by the fence waiting for his cookies.