The farmer was carefully sweeping his courtyard.
After all he was a real Swiss farmer, living in a real small Swiss country village and, according to expected standards, he was very tidy and even his cows were carefully brushed and very clean.
It was then that the meddling photographer appeared.
“Good Morning” the lady photographer said.
“Good Morning” and the farmer politely stopped sweeping and looked at her with an interrogative glance.
Suddenly a dog started barking furiously and the photographer, a city creature, quite uncomfortable in a totally country environment, nearly made her camera fall down, looking for a shelter from what she considered a dangerous reincarnation of Hound of the Baskervilles.
The farmer looked even more puzzled:
“Don’t worry, Madam, it’s a good dog, he simply needs to get used to you, please come closer ant let him sniff your hand…”
The photographer already imagined a future where she would have been one-handed, but she preferred to run the risk rather than admitting she was irrationally afraid of a probably gentle farm dog.
She approached the dog, who sniffed her hand and immediately stopped barking as if the photographer had become one of the wooden benches of the courtyard.
The farmer still looked at her wondering what she was doing there in his courtyard, but he was too kind to ask….
He wore rubber boots and he had a small golden earring, only one, as pirates and…as many Swiss peasants.
“Uhm, I’m sorry to disturb you – the photographer started saying – I’d like taking photos of your farm, if you don’t mind, I’m dedicating a series of photos to small country villages of the area and….”
“Oh, you are welcome –the farmer smiled – would you like taking pictures of my animals?”
“Yes, with pleasure…”
“Oh, I’ll take them out”
And he started enthusiastically to open a gate of a pen and suddenly a bunch of merry and lively calves surrounded a quite scared photographer, who tried bravely to protect herself and her lens from friendly licks!
It’s necessary to explain now that the photographer belong to that group of city people who are more friendly with plucked chicken without head, laying down on a supermarket stalls, rather than with feathery creatures with head and beak, which run after you.
You know what I mean, people who think that carrots and other vegetables grow at the grocer’s….
The farmer was overwhelmed with good will and proposed to take out also all the cows, an undefined number of geese and, like the cherry on the cake, the whole pack of huskies dog which howled somewhere in a disquieting way.
The photographer, trying to avoid the calves’ attention, desperately tried to find a good excuse to not hurt his sensitiveness…
“Oh, but I don’t want to trouble the animals, oh, but taking pictures of them closed inside their pen is perfectly good for me…no, I don’t think I can take a good picture of your gigantic pig, if he (or she, no idea) come out and approaches me…”
“Maybe you would prefer to take photos of horses, horses are so beautiful….”
A quick look around, no horses in view, no danger….
“Oh, yes, I would adore taking photos of horses, what a pity you have not any…”
Save!
“Come with me please, Madam”
And the farmer showed the entry door of his farm.
“Maybe he would like offering me a cup of coffee, what a kind person”
The photographer follow the farmer under a porch, but instead of finding herself into a cosy kitchen, she discovered that it was just a passage to the back courtyard, all surrounded by a fence and from the passage one could arrive directly inside that enclosure.
“Here you are – the farmer said proudly – take your time and take your photos, but be a little careful with the black one, he’s a little rough sometimes with strangers…”
And the photographer was totally surrounded by big real horses, no fences in the middle.
The black horse looked at her with mocking eyes….
She survived.

If you have nothing better to do, you might find all the photos taken in this village, horses included clicking HERE.