Slip & Slide

It really does rain in Kansas - who knew?  The good:  the seared brown pasture has turned completely green.  The bad:  the footing is abysmal.  Good:  it's cooler, hanging in the 80's.  Bad:  the humidity is also in the 70's and 70's. 

Also in the good column, some of the seeds we planted when my niece was here this spring actually came up - no thanks to me, since I didn't water them at all.  But the rain arrived in time, and they're gorgeous.  No idea what they are, but I need to find out, because I want some more for next year.


I've managed two actual rides, one on Amyra and one on Sunny.  Amyra continues to relax and get more settled, and we even managed a walk partway down the driveway without her eyes popping out of her head.

I laid the ground poles out for Sunny and must have gotten the distance right, because he trotted them without tapping a one.  A solid evenings work, and in the new saddle, too.  He seems to like it, and it's pretty comfortable for me, too - have yet to test it on steepish hill (I'll bet it slides), but just the fact that it's not so long is an improvement.

It's getting darker in the mornings.  Not a good sign, since it takes me at least a half hour to get everyone fed and moved around.  I'm thinking soon I'll be getting horses shuttled over by headlamp-light.

I picked up 50 small square bales a couple weeks ago, and I've been giving them a few leaves in the evening - even with the grass coming back, they're happy to see the hay.  And it means when I holler for them, they come running.

Well, usually.  Sometimes it means the bugs are extra bad, and sometimes it's just that edgy feel the weather gets that sends them running.  Tonight it was the latter.  They raced up, slid to a stop, stayed just long enough to be praised, and pounded off again. 

On the second pass I managed to collect them and skidded our way back. 

Of Tarps & Tiny Bandits

When I bought Sunny he was too young to ride, so we did a lot of groundwork.  One of my favorite things to play with was the tarp.  The other day I was trying to think of things to work on with all of them, and it dawned on me that I hadn't run through the tarp with Sunny in ages - probably just as long for Thunder, and not as extensively. I couldn't remember ever trying with Amyra, and I know for sure never at all with Rufus.

Initially, Thunder was the only one who'd come over.  Sunny was sure I was going to catch him and ride him, and hovered suspiciously behind the other three.

But once he realized that I wasn't going to put his halter on and ride him, he waded right in, walked across and presented himself to be clicked and treated.

After a brief inspection, Thunder was happy enough to stand on the tarp, but preferred pawing and poking at it with his nose to walking across it.  He didn't catch on to the "follow me" game Sunny and I were playing. 

I can actually stop Sunny in the middle, then ask him to turn 360' in place without stepping off the tarp.  Good practice for trail class, if we ever actually make it to a show. 

He'll also wear it.  And monkey-see, monkey-do, Thunder was willing to let me drape it across his back, as well, since the blue flappy thing didn't eat Sunny.  Although he did a bit more eye-rolling.

Rufus wasn't worried about walking on the tarp so much as he was worried about getting in Sunny's way.  He certainly came right up and checked it out readily enough.  I think he would have walked across, too - but he wasn't willing to push in where Sunny was.  And he wasn't excited about the tarp leaving the ground.  Amyra, pretty much like-wise.  She experimented with putting her front feet on, but once I picked it up she backed off to a safe 10 foot distance and watched.

Next time I'll tie them up and work with them one at a time.  Especially Sunny.  He's a good example monkey, but once he figures out there's food and very little effort involved, he ends up being more of a deterrent than a help.

In any case, something fun and low-key after the trailer ride the night before. 

*******

Later in the evening, I went out to bring in my clothes off the line and sent a small something scurrying into the underbrush at the edge of the yard and up a tree.  

These are too small to be the ones we've seen trying to raid the cat food can, although I'm sure that's very likely what I interrupted when I opened the door - no mom in sight, although they're pretty young yet. I'm guessing maybe the harvesting surrounding us currently moved the family in to the tree grove around the house. Very cute, and hopefully the whole family will move back out into the fields once the harvesters finish!

Pony outing - pics

Rufus & Sunny on arrival

The ground looks a lot better in the pictures!

Sunny showing off his collected walk

Time for a break

Thunder checks things out

Somebody else's cones - good idea, though

More investigation

Amyra's dust bath

Homeward bound

Good Sunny, Bad Sunny

My nephew Z came out Friday evening with his lab Zoie.  She got to run and play in the yard and pasture until it was time to bring the horses home, then got tied up, as she's never seen a horse before.  They've seen a lot of dogs and are generally unconcerned, but I didn't want her getting kicked.  We figured an introduction on leash would go better. 

Anyway, walked over and retrieved the ponies.  Z's never been around horses - he's excited to learn, though.  He led Rufus back, and we tied Amyra and Rufus up.  I soaked Amyra's foot while my mom showed Z how to brush Rufus.  (Amyra popped a small abcess earlier in the week, and I've been soaking it nightly in warm water, epson salts & betadine.)

After Amyra was done, she went back in, and I pulled Sunny out.  Rufus thoroughly enjoys being brushed, and hadn't so much as twitched while Z brushed him.  After a quick brush-off for Sunny, we saddled them both.  I thought I'd picked a saddle that would work for Z, but realized I'd mis-judged the length of his legs pretty badly.  He's 13, but not tall - I couldn't get the stirrups high enough.  He hadn't brought any boots, either, but I did make him put a helmet on.

With my mom on Rufus to demonstrate, and me coaching he spent probably an hour walking Sunny around.  I laid the ground poles out and they walked over and around them.  Sunny was SO good. 

He listened, turned, stopped, all with his ears pricked and without a bobble.  Towards the end, Z really wanted to try trotting, so at that point we did switch saddles to one with shorter leathers.  I clipped the longe line on Sunny and Z gave it a shot.

He actually did pretty well, and was starting to get the hang of it, but I could tell he was also starting to get a little sore - Sunny, too I think. (Sunny doesn't have the smoothest trot, and Z was doing a fair amount of bouncing.)  We called it a night, the ponies got a skiff of grain for being so good and we headed up to finish the evening with Smores.

Of course, Sunny being Sunny had to follow up his stellar evening with a morning reversion to his 2 year old days.  There were storms blowing in, and all four of them were on their toes when we went down to feed.  The other three were minding their manners, but Sunny was convinced that there was SOMETHING in the trees behind us that was going to get him, and he didn't want be last in line as we walked over to the south pasture.

By the time we got to the creekbed crossing, I was pretty sure there was no way I was navigating successfully across with two horses, and since Rufus was still behaving himself I waited until my mom and dad had Amyra and Thunder down and through, warned them, and let Rufus go to take himself over.

Which of course made Sunny even more frantic.  We spent several fraught moments going around and around in the bottom of the creekbed, me determined that he was NOT going to charge up the bank, and him just as determined that he was.  I won.  Mostly.

By this point, Sunny's twitichies had communicated themselves to Thunder who was also behaving like a twit.  My dad had Rufus and Amyra - still sane - through the gate and unhaltered by the time we had the other two idjits half the rest of the way to the gate.  Sheesh!

Once loose, they ate about two bites, then took off as if we'd lit a brush fire under their tails.  They spent the next five minutes rocketing around the big pasture as fast as they could go, bucking and kicking and caroming off one another like pinballs.   It was quite the sight to see.

Shots... DONE.

Folks are still here, and mom had her camera out so there are probably pictures.  Not that it was a particularly exciting event.  The only one that even remotely worries about a needle is Thunder and he was a VERY good boy this year.  The other three go, "Eh?  That was it?  Huh.  Okay, back to eating."

With helpers back and forth to pasture, I've been riding up and back - feeling kind of guilty about it, but I can't talk anybody else into getting on board.  I've been sticking to Sunny and Rufus, but last night I thought I'd brave Thunder at least for the trip back across the pasture. 

It was a very abbreviated ride.  We were fine for the flat part, but when we hit the first downhill it dawned on both of us at the same moment that we'd never done a hill bareback.  He was okay with my wriggling on and walked off just fine, but getting squeezed when I started to slide forward - not to mention the sliding - was a bit too much.  Since I've been on him a sum total of twice since November, I chickened out and slid off.  Not that he did anything bad, but I could tell he was getting anxious.  No sense pushing my luck - we'll have a few refreshers on the flat and then tackle some hills. 

So I swapped horses and hopped on Sunny instead with renewed appreciation for the time we've spent learning each others quirks - realizing just how much I wiggle around, bump him, squeeze him just hanging on.... and he still listens and determines what is random noise and what is an actual cue.   Pretty darn smart.

The horses and I are on our own up the hill again this morning - my folks are headed to the airport in KC to pick up my sister and niece.  They'll be here for a week :)  Vacation for them scheduled pre-new job for me, so I won't get to see them quite as much as I'd planned on, but at least it looks like the weather will be decent and they'll all keep one another entertained.

Other than that, not much new on the horse front.  So many excuses not to spend time riding, darn it!

I'm so proud!

I'm not complaining about the cold - not after looking at the temps our neighboring states to the north are "enjoying" these past few days.  It's been chilly here the past few days, but our lows have been higher than the highs up there!

So yesterday it was in the 30's with a pretty good breeze and having been spoiled by last week's mid-50's I spent the morning debating: to walk, or not to walk.  Walking would mean layering... and one direction or the other I was going to have to walk into or across the wind.

But the temps kept creeping incrementally in a warmer direction, and it was on the upward side of 35 by 3 PM when the sun finally poked out from behind the clouds, so I went down, cleaned the barn and being all warm from that, decided to go for my walk.

I walked south and east into the wind, figuring that it was going to cool off by the time I turned around and I wanted to have the wind behind me for the hike back.  I could feel the temp easing back down, but the sun was still nice and warm, and when I turned around I actually unzipped my top layer.  For about a 1/3 of the way, it was great.

Then the wind switched.  And picked up.

Wind is NOT supposed to come from the northeast.  And it was cold, too. My zipper went right back to the top, and I was really happy to turn that last corner toward home, even if it meant walking right into Mother Nature's AC vent.

Which is when I saw them...  The boys - well, two of them - were up on the east creek bank.  They haven't been going into the creek bed since it snowed because a) snow and b) melting.  The footing down has been really slippery.  And as far as I know, other than the first day's excited scramble up the steep slope, none of them have been on top on the other side.  There's a perfectly good path along the creek toward the bridge and back up the other side at a gentle angle, but straight up the hill is SO much quicker.  But Sunny and Rufus figured it out, and there they were.  I'm so proud!

They'd been up there exploring long enough to nibble the bark off of a couple of the baby elm trees and leave poop piles up and down the fence, so they must have headed that direction right about the time I left.

It was closing in on time to pitch their evening hay, so I walked on up to the house to put my chore coat and boots back on, and by the time I got back out Thunder was up on top too.  But I didn't figure they'd stay up there long once they saw me heading down to the barn.  Sure enough, I could hear the mad scramble and lots of thudding headed my way - they get 2 cups of grain each in the mornings, but hope springs eternal that there might be more in the offing at night. 

Sunny 2, Cameras 0

The problem with leaving your camera stuck to a post while you do chores?  Sometimes a horse tries to eat it...

Sunny has now accounted for two cameras.  The first one I dropped while riding.  When I got off to pick it up, I wasn't quite quick enough to stop him from pawing it into the dirt.  Result?  Cracked screen so I couldn't tell what mode I was in or what I was taking a picture of.  Camera still worked, but the only thing you could be sure of was if it was on or off.  I really liked that camera, too.

Camera two bit the dust today when I carelessly left it hanging by it's Gorillapod feet on the fence.  I thought it was out of reach.  I came back to Sunny craning his neck to poke at it.  But it was still solidly on the post, so I figured no harm done.  When I turned it on to take a picture of the sunset later, the screen light up white with all sorts of colorful checks and striations, and look-y there, sure enough on closer examination it has teeth marks. 

Again, it still takes pictures, and at least this one has a manual view-finder so I can tell what I'm cutting off, but adjusting settings, turning the flash off or changing modes... will now be done by Messuers Guess and Golly, 'cause psychic I'm not.

Okay, so I've been drooling over the new smaller, higher zoom digital cameras, but destruction by horse was not in the game plan. 

Think he was upset because I hadn't deleted this picture yet?

All Vetted

I had our trailer all cleaned out yesterday before we confirmed the vet appointment and I realized we'd need it this morning.  So I figured I'd be out there with the bucket, shovel and hose again this afternoon, because the first thing the four-foots do when they get in is christen the trailer - lol!  But as it turned out the trailer the guys used to haul the horses out west was still sitting out at J's.  It needed to be dropped back off at M's place which is right over near Eric's where we were picking up Amyra and Thunder, so new plan. 

Two birds with one stone, we'd drive out to J's and hook up to M's trailer, head to the farm and collect Sunny and Rufus, then to Eric's for Amyra and Thunder, and then to the vet's. 

The trailer's a 24" stock, longer, but not quite as tall as ours, and with no front tack, but nice a roomy especially for not-too-long ponies like ours.  Sunny and Rufus could both stand crosswise without bending their necks.

Four on board

Thunder started snorting and bobbing his head at me when I got to his stall.  He seemed happy to see me, but happier to be outside as we walked to the trailer.  Eric says once he got past the whole nervous anxiety thing, he's been lovely to work with.  He's still watchful and kind of wary in the barn aisle - eight years of outside living doesn't make adapting to a stalled environment easy, even when the stall is spacious and the barn is nice and light. 

We decided to load Amyra, the lone mare, in last since if someone was going to kick it chances favored her - or Sunny and he was already in the spot next to the mid-gate - getting annoyed at Thunder for sniffing at her. Thunder took a minute to sniff the strange trailer, then stepped on like a champ, but Amyra out-did him, bailing right in like she's been loading daily for years instead of once - today - in the past year.

At the vet's we pulled up in the not-too-terribly-wide alley between the clinic and the storage units next door.  The clinic's located on a busy road, and to make things even more interesting, the power company is retrenching or something equally loud requiring heavy equipment next to the road in front.  So no shortage of noise and traffic, it's just about reached freezing, and the wind is picking up by the minute.  Fun, fun, fun.

But in spite of our running a bit late, they were able to get to us right away, so we got everybody unloaded and lined up in a row of sacrificial victims along the trailer.

Rufus, Sunny's ears, &Thunder's back
(Amyra's beyond Thunder)

 Rufus and Sunny didn't flinch at getting poked, and Amyra stood like a rock for her draw and her rabies shot.  Thunder was good too, for him.  I requested the female vet for his sake - not great with strange men - and he'd been stellar for her when she did his rabies shot earlier this year.

He wasn't quite as copacetic this time, but we accomplished his draw with only one pull back, and it didn't involve the needle.  He actually spooked at the clipboard when she was drawing in his markings for the health papers.  I untied him for the draw, and although he danced a few steps when the needle went in, he stood for the draw itself just fine. 

In around half an hour, including time to chat, we were loading them back up again - this time in reverse order.  Thunder and Amyra in first and then Rufus and Sunny.  We dropped the last ones in off at the farm 

"Really, that's all you wanted us for?"

and then swung back out to Eric's to return Amyra and Thunder.  I was really glad to get the trailer left off at M's and head home - that wind is getting nasty!

We'll have the blood test results back in a couple of days, and one more moving hurdle ticked off the list.

Home again, home again

The guys all finally rolled in after dark last night - I think 5 days of deer camp was... maybe too much of a good thing?  At any rate, they unloaded 10 deer in our garage for the night while I patted pony noses through the trailer slats. 

T regaled me with hunting stories while I (again) waited impatiently for the Rufus report.  Finally, after hearing how they'd walked here, driven there, hiked up this hill and down that bluff, I asked, had they ridden at all?

Between the snow and icy build-up, they ended up riding only one morning.  And T forgot the camera.  Sigh...  Rufus did just fine, though.

Since it was so late when they got home, we decided it would be easier all the way around to collect Sunny and Rufus this morning.   All eight four-foots were lined up along the back of the barn enjoying the sunshiney heat reflection.  Sunny had parked himself a good 10' away from the closest horse and declined to brave the line-up to come greet me.  He did whinny, though. 

Needless to say, neither he nor Rufus put up much fuss about leaving.

Loading Rufus

 As soon as I had his halter off, Sunny headed over for a long drink and then it was straight to the spilled corn by the grain bin.  (Rufus didn't bother getting a drink first.)

"It's good to be home!"

No squabbling over spilled grain now :)

T and his buck

It really is good to have them (all) back home safe and sound.  We'll collect them again in the morning, head over and pick up Amyra and Thunder, and they'll all get a trip to the vet's for a Coggins test and a rabies shot for Amyra.  The other three all got theirs this spring.  The results should be back in a couple of days, and then it will just be a matter of setting a date for their big trip.

"Can I please go home now?"

Checking on Sunny at J's this afternoon I had a few adrenaline-drenched moments when I stepped out of the truck and counted 1, 2, 3 horses and one small fuzzy burro munching away on the hill -  but no Sunny!  At first I thought he might be farther down the hill, or around the corner of the barn where I couldn't see him, but when I got closer he was still nowhere in sight.

As I climbed over the fence I called, "Sunny" more than a bit anxiously, hoping he'd whinny at me - which he hasn't done since he's been at J's.  I think he's sulking.  But even as the final syllable left my mouth I heard his high-pitched wheeeniiie and spotted him trotting(!) up the fenceline toward me.  More enthusiasm than he's displayed in a long time, that's for sure.

Completely ignored by the three horses, but stalked by Eyore, I slipped his halter on and jumped on bareback - which didn't last long, unfortunately.  I probably should have led him farther away.  Almost as soon as my leg was over Eyore made a dive for Sunny's tail.  And let me tell you, that small, belligerent long-eared critter can really move.  Every time I swung Sunny to face him, Eyore'd spin inside and end up behind us again.

I really, really wanted a lunge whip or a spare lead or something that would have worked to chase him off with, but nothing was handy.  Sunny was a star, listening to me and not kicking at him, but honestly I've seen less determined stock dogs!

After a few minutes of futile escape attempts I slid off and chased Eyore away on foot while the other three horses watched me curiously.  I probably could have gotten back on at that point, but I was already getting chilly so I collected Sunny and walked down the hill to check the stock tank.  The water wasn't down too far, but I figured I might as well fill it anyway.  Sunny was happy to hang out and be fussed over, and the sun felt good.

Tank full I thought maybe he'd be in a hurry to get back to the other horses, out of sight up the hill, but he walked along next to me with no hurry whatsoever.  When I slipped the halter back off Sunny followed me to the fence and watched while I climbed over and headed back to the truck.

"You're not leaving, are you?"

Poor pony!  He's going to be really pleased to see Rufus later this week!

"Can I please go home now?"

Sunny's adventure

This post should probably be titled Rufus's big adventure, but since I'm not with Rufus that story will have to wait until T and Rufus get back - hopefully with pictures.

West River deer season opened today.  T and party headed west on Friday - right into what's turning out to be the first blizzard of the season (Hell-o, Brutus!), and since they're in a cell phone dead zone, I haven't heard how the weather actually is, but according to the NWS they should be experiencing snow.

Buddy, Casper and Rufus at the trailer Friday a.m.

Now you may recall, we originally took Rufus over to the farm to keep Sunny company while Thunder's at the trainer's.  I'd actually forgotten about T's hunting plans at that point.  And given that we've been packing everything in sight, I wasn't sure if he still intended to go.  But when the decision was made that he was going and so was Rufus, J suggested we bring Sunny over to stay while Rufus was gone.

I've always been leery of turning Sunny out with a bunch of strange horses - he tends to be kind of bossy.  But since he did okay with Rufus, and Rufus lived over there until last month, and all of J's horses tend to be pretty laid back about everything....

On Thursday afternoon we loaded Rufus and Sunny up and took them over.  Introductions involved lots of sniffing -

Sunny sandwich

Some running around

Some milling

It was odd seeing the dichotomy of size - Sunny and Rufus aren't particularly small horses, but they just flat aren't as long or wide as J's big, rangy Quarter Horses.

But very little actual chasing

Casper was the only one that showed the slightest sign of aggression, and he wasn't nearly as intent on it as Sunny's been known to be.

More sniffing

Sunny located the hay feeder first thing, of course.  He cruised around the lot sniffing everything, trailing Rufus and occasionally one of J's horses, but other than a couple of squeals in the first minute, things were pretty quiet.

By this point, the sun was sinking fast and T was making noises about getting back to the real drama of the evening - the low trailer tire we'd discovered while unloading.  (Unfortunately, the spare turned out to be low as well.  And shame on me, when for not checking it before we loaded them - I didn't even think about it.)  Thankfully, with the weight off we had enough pressure to make the short run into town, and when we pulled forward slowly to check for nails or punctures, nothing showed and it wasn't hissing.  We made it into town, aired up, and both tires are still holding good pressure this morning. Still, time to have them all checked.

I ran T and baggage out Friday a.m. in the dark(!) and helped the guys get hay and groceries loaded up.  Of course, I checked on Sunny first.  He was fine - hanging tight with Rufus - unscathed but for one small bite mark on his butt.

Sunny, along with the others, got turned out into the big field for the duration.

Pennie, Eyore, Bubbles, Sunny and Lightbulb

When I checked on him today I arrived just as a freight train blew through. The tracks run right along the whole east side of the field. The rest of them were completely unconcerned - trains are normal for them.  Sunny was watchful, but it obviously wasn't the first one that had gone by.  His eyes were plenty big, though.

Eyore was occupying himself trying to get the other horses to play with him - they weren't interested, so he tried Sunny.

Sunny was not amused.

"Go away, you odd little nuisance!"

 

"I mean it."

"Get!"

For which I'm just as pleased - Rufus used to have a tail.  I really don't want Sunny's going the same way!

Move is a 4 letter word, and a Thunder update

That's right, folks... we're moving.  Bags, boxes, cats, horses & all.  To Kansas.  Sunny & co have a few more weeks in SD while we finish packing & get things horse-proofed.  We haven't set departure-day yet, but it's looming.

The house here is a disaster.  It's amazing how much stuff one can cram into a not very big house - and since the one we're moving into is smaller, down-sizing isn't just a nice idea, it's a necessity.  I'm hoping that once everything is finally pitched, donated or packed I'll be finding more L-ove in my M-ove.  Right at the moment I'd just take a sufficiency of boxes the right size!

On the positive side of moving, the new place is an acreage and we'll finally have the horses at home.  There's one big pasture already fenced that will do fine for this winter, and a stone run-in shed/barn with a good roof.  And a couple smaller spaces that lack fence but will work with temporary electric for day-time grazing until we can get permanent fence up.  We'll have some fence work to do - mostly cutting trees back - but for now we'll be able to run electric on the inside of the existing fence.  

In the meantime, life continues - between getting everything we want to get done here accomplished before the weather turns, and getting the new place move-in ready, there hasn't been much quality pony-time going on.  Today we took Rufus to get shoes and Sunny got a trim.  A dual-purpose visit, as the farrier was at Eric's and we could check in on Amyra and Thunder.

Rufus stood nicely for his turn.  Sunny was not as cooperative, although he did have the excuse of a very rambunctious horse playing in the indoor arena directly behind him.  After the third time we'd been peppered by flying chunks of dirt, Eric retrieved Jackson, who was having way to much fun racing around, bucking and snorting.

The word is that Thunder was initially leery, but is coming along.  He's unsure of strange men, so that didn't surprise me.  After Rufus and Sunny were done and back at the trailer, I went back in to check on Thunder - his stall is very close to the crossties we were using.  Sunny had walked in and out without any sign of being aware Thunder was there, but Thunder was anxiously watching down the aisle where Sunny had disappeared.  It was sad.  

Other than being anxious at having been deserted by his buddy yet again, Thunder looks good and was definitely happy to be rubbed and have his itchy spots scritched.  T visited Amyra while I made nice with Thunder, and then we loaded up and headed out.

Hopefully I'll get back over soon and be able to take some pictures of all this progress he's making!  In the meantime, back to my boxes.

First Snow

Okay, so it's October - nearly the end of October even - but still, the white stuff yesterday morning was sort of shocking given the fall weather to date has been sunny and unseasonably warm.

And the white stuff wasn't pretty and fluffy, either.  It was cold, damp, grey and blustery out there.  The snow was just wet enough to sort of stick to everything.  Raw gusts slapped at us, periodically sending globs of semi-frozen slush smacking down - invariably catching the gap at the back of my collar and running ice water down my neck.

The ponies looked resigned, tucked out of the wind with their coats all fluffed out.  They followed us up to the bale to see what we were up to, but didn't linger.

It was chilly up there, and the rattling noise of slush-balls letting go to fall on dead leaves and dry underbrush had them pricking their ears and swiveling their heads around to see what was sneaking up on them.

Moisture = good, but I sure wish it would have come earlier in the month as a nice, warm rain!

Best Evening!

No long ride yesterday, but in the evening we fooled around bareback in the pasture for a while.

It was a gorgeous evening - sunny, crisp with the scent of dust and fallen leaves hanging in the air.  With me on him, Sunny was - as usual - unconcerned about where Rufus was.  We wove around the pastures side-by-side and played follow the leader, taking turns leading. 

Nothing particularly fancy, but the first time we've ridden together since T's been home.

Pony update - Saturday PM

Had a bad moment yesterday afternoon when my phone buzzed with a new text from Eric - I immediately had visions of Thunder through a fence or flipped upside down in the crossties...  Thankfully, although horse-related his message had nothing to do with my spotted boy.

Sunny and Rufus continue to coexist uneventfully if not cheerfully, at least on Sunny's part.  Poor Sunny - he doesn't want Rufus too close to him, or people, for that matter, but he doesn't want him too far away, either.  Yesterday morning when I checked them Rufus was at the hay feeder and Sunny was loafing under the big tree nearby.  Both of them nickered at me, but I missed hearing Sunny's high-pitched whinny peeling out in greeting. 

Sunny was of course absolutely fine with me rubbing his belly and scratching the itchy spots around his ears, but when I walked over to do the same to Rufus, Sunny took exception and started to run him off.  Not acceptable.  So I stayed with Rufus, and every time Sunny approached with his ears back I chased him off.

It took about three times before he stopped and stood, staring at us mournfully from about 10 feet away. After I'd loved on Rufus for a while, I walked him up to the waterer.  Given Sunny's behavior, I wanted to make sure Rufus had had an opportunity to drink - where the waterer sits is sort of a V, and he might not have wanted to risk getting stuck in there if Sunny was stalking him. 

We went up the hill, trailed at a respectful distance by Sunny, who plodded along behind us with his ears tipped back, flicking them forward hopefully every time I turned my head to glance back at him.  The fat lambs were scampering and bouncing around in their lot - they share common fence and a waterer with the horses.  Rufus keep an eye on them, and a weather eye on on Sunny, who was sort of hovering back near the corn bin.  I was keeping an eye on Sunny, too, and he knew it. 

Rufus sniffed at the water, but didn't seem too interested in drinking - not sure if he just wasn't thirsty, or if the water didn't taste like what he was used to.  He didn't seem overly worried, though.

When Rufus headed back down, I ran interference through the narrower part of the lot by the gate, and then walked with Sunny out into the pasture.  When Rufus showed signs of coming over to visit, Sunny pinned his ears again, and got himself chased away.  Herd dynamics are fine, but he will respect me when I'm standing there and learn to mind his manners.

Maintaining a respectful distance

Also a resentful distance

When T and I checked them yesterday evening - taking Rufus up to the waterer again, where he did drink, but not in a hadn't-had-anything-to-drink-all-day way - Sunny was still crabby.  But Rufus isn't sporting any nip marks, and when he wanders off Sunny trails along behind him, making sure he's not left behind. 

I'm hoping to get a ride in this afternoon, which should give them something to commiserate about - lol!