Horse numbers

Here’s a math problem: 27 + 44 + 46 = 117. Divide that by three and you have 39. Subtract 30 and divide the remainder by nine and you have one. Or, divide the 39 by itself and you also get one. Either way, you can reduce all these numbers to one. Don’t ask me how, it just comes out that way. Math was never my strong suit.

This number, for instance—27. A number that can be arrived at several ways. Three times nine, nine times three, 25 plus 2, and so on.

Here’s 44. What a number! Two 4s next to each other. Why? Who knows? Positively palindromic.

And that brings us to the last number, 46. What an even number! As the entire number or each numeral by itself.

Looked at separately, there are five even numbers, one odd. But if you add five and one, you get six—an even number! What happened to the odd number? It gets absorbed or something. Odd.

As you can see, I am in awe of the mathematical wonders presented by the numerals carved in the new foals. When springtime comes, these numbers will disappear when their winter coats are shed. For awhile, the horses will look really scroungy as loose tufts of hair mar the shiny new coats emerging beneath. No more numbers! Just names, that won’t be carved in their sides either, but exist only in the minds of the humans who give them out. The names will be written in log books we keep about each horse. They will appear on the bills we get from veterinarians as we take care of them throughout their lives. But the numbers? They’ll be forgotten. The math magic will disappear with them. So commit them to memory now, or forever regret your slothful behavior. I know I will.