Papa goes down to the corral every afternoon around 5 p.m. He has a ritual with the horses. Most days they are either waiting for him in the corral or they see him driving down on the ranger, and they run, as if they are in the Kentucky Derby, to get to the corral. Oscar, Pablo, and Doc have ranked themselves with Oscar as the #1 horse, Pablo #2, and Doc #3. Oscar always enters the corral first. Pablo and Doc stand outside until Oscar goes through the gate.
Papa feeds each of them a cube of sugar and then he goes into the hay barn to get three flakes of hay. He has their feed barrels spread around the corral and each goes to the same barrel for their supper. After a few minutes, Oscar will go to Pablo's barrel to eat. Pablo quietly walks across the corral to Oscar's barrel. After a few minutes more, Oscar will go to Doc's barrel, and the dance continues.
All the while, Papa is moving from horse to horse, brushing their coats and checking their shoes.
