Morning Excitement

Well, it just goes to show you can't let down your guard and need to be on your toes at all times.... I was putting the horses out this morning - same as always. When I got to Cami, she decided that she didn't want to go to her usual spot and instead wanted to go out behind the barn. She brushed past me, headed that way, but I blocked the door so she couldn't go into that barn. So does she go out like a good girl??? Nope! Instead, she took a quick right turn into the feed room! I'm not even sure how she fit! For those of you who don't know, my feed room is basically a narrow hall lined with feed barrels on both sides. (see the photo) She stopped to visit Jazz through the bars, then went all the way to the end and looked out the window. Now... I couldn't go in after her, because when you have a 1100+lb horse whose butt is blocking the aisle, there's just no more room! So I stood in the door and told her to back. She did fine until she got about half way - right next to the barrel with the sweet feed. I think she must have smelled the feed at that point and figured out that maybe she didn't want to leave quite so fast! She tried to get the lid off that barrel and I yelled at her. Then she went forward again and started trying some of the other barrels. Obviously, this was not working.... I got the lunge whip, and went into Autumn's stall (she was already out). I stuck the whip through the bars in front of Cami and shook it at her while telling her to back out... Let's just say that Cami can back in a really straight line - really quickly - when she chooses to!!! Now you'd probably think that she'd go out at this point right? Wrong! Now that the door to the older barn wasn't blocked she decided to try for her original plan of going out back. She went into the hall but the back door was closed so she decided to eat some of the hay stacked there. That's until she saw me come out of the other barn with the whip in my hand. I snapped the whip and she spun around and took off, right out into her paddock where Autumn was waiting for her (and going a little nuts because her buddy Cami wasn't there)... Phew! Of course, all this happened quickly, in less time than it took you to read about it. Jazz and Scotty were the only horses still in at that point and when I opened their doors they both went right out - no messing around as they usually do, they had seen that lunge whip! They've all been a little silly in the mornings lately, but Cami was the silliest. She just needed to be reminded that she is NOT the boss of the barn - I am! Hmmm..... maybe I need to put her back with Scooby for a while.... he'll put her in her place......

Aside from all that excitement I thought I'd throw in a couple of other pics for you. On the left is Jazzy and Scotty relaxing before Carla and I groomed them this afternoon. On the right is Rosy enjoying the fact that "her" bench in the barnyard is no longer buried in snow!

photo gallery

March - by Tapper

Hi! This is Tapper, I'm writing the blog for mom this time because she is too busy dealing with more snow (and because I'm smart!). Scooby wanted to write the blog but mom said his feet were too big for the keyboard. Anyway.... yes, it's snowing again. Mom's really sick of plowing and shoveling and we are getting tired of the snow too. There is nothing to do, we can't go for rides and there is no grass to eat. COME ON GRASS!!!! We've all started shedding our winter coats and mom tells us to "think spring".

Mom had to make a path for Petrucchio to go out because he wouldn't leave his stall. That's him with his coat on in the pic. There is so much snow packed in front of all the run-in stalls and sheds that we have to step up to go outside. If we get much more we'll have to duck to go out! (Actually, Scooby already has to duck!) We have also been getting ice/sleet/rain mixes. Of course when it does that, all the water runs down the snow and right in to the run-ins! Yuck, it's just been a big mess!

The other evening, one of the house animals (the black fuzzy one on the left below, I think she's a dog) came down to visit us. Unfortunately she went to visit Scooby and he's just NOT a dog person. Luckily, before he could stomp her, mom called her and she ran back to the house. I heard mom saying that the snow was so high by the fence that the fuzzy one just walked right over the fence! (I remember doing that once when I was just a filly. Hmmm..... wonder if I could do it now....) I guess the dogs are stuck in a smaller paddock until the snow melts because mom doesn't want any more unscheduled visits to the barn. You can see in the photo on the right how high the snow is on the fence in the dogs little paddock. That fence is 4 feet high!

Last weekend we all got dewormed - YUCK! I hate that stuff! I'm always a good girl about it but it really tastes awful! I guess most everyone was good about it except Maggie gave a little trouble but not too bad. Of course that also meant we all got weight taped. MY weight is perfect (of course), but Jazzy, Scotty, and Maggie are all on diets now. Ha ha!!! Everyone else is OK.

Yesterday Bruce came. Ken was supposed to come too but he was sick so he's coming next Friday. Bruce trimmed Jazzy, Scotty, Dolly, & Chance (he lives somewhere else and his mom rode him over, he's cute!), and then he reset Scooby's front shoes and trimmed his hind. Aunty Carla came to help and I heard a lot of talking and laughing going on. Everyone was happy because for the first time ever, Bruce got 8 nails in the shoe on Scooby's bad foot! You can see in the pic that Scooby's 2 front feet look almost the same now... Scooby also got a little nosy and wanted to see what Bruce was doing to Dolly!

Before Bruce could come, mom had to make sure he could drive to the barn and back out again. She had a friend come over and he got in the orange machine and moved the snow around, then they threw sand all over. I heard him say his name was Equine Man, but he doesn't look like a horse to me. He moved some of the big piles of snow so there would be room for more piles of snow.

I guess that brings you all up to date for now. Maybe mom will let me write to you all again sometime.....