Beautiful mornings

We helped out some friends with farm chores this past weekend so they could take a weekend away.

The mornings were chilly, but watching the sun come up was worth it.

We were down hooking up the float in the water tank one morning, supervised by four of the horses, when their heads swiveled around and then three of them took off across the pasture to tail a coyote until he ducked under the fence and headed off.

Bubbles hung out with us.  Even after we could no longer see the coyote, we could track his progress down the fenceline just watching her, unconcerned but alert.

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!