Tapper's News...

Hi Everyone,
It's me, Tapper the roving reporter mare, back with another update for you... Mom has been busy so she is letting me write this blog post... Hmmm... where to start? Well, with ME of course! Guess what? I turn 17 this year!!! Can you believe it? I know, I don't look a day over 12 right? Mom and I have been together since I was 3 months old, and I know she loves me to pieces. In fact, she loves me so much that she will never get another mare. I overheard her talking with Auntie Carla a while back and she told Carla to slap her if she even thinks about getting another mare - that must mean she loves me a lot! So I have my brothers (Sparkie, Scotty, Ziegy and Jazz) but no sisters...

Speaking of my brothers, Jazz and Scotty have both been ridden this month. Mom rode Jazz around the property a few weeks ago, and Carla and mom rode both boys Friday and yesterday. Friday they tried riding bareback, Scotty did well with that but Jazzy wasn't at all sure he liked it! After a few bucks (little ones) he settled down, but then tried to run back to the barn with mom and she had to make him put on the brakes pretty quick! It was fun to watch. Then yesterday they saddled up and rode all around the property (can't go out on the roads yet because none of us will have shoes until next month). The boys were pretty full of themselves and very prancy - I think they were showing off for us girls, we weren't that impressed... I heard mom and Carla laughing like crazy while they were up in the field by the road, I found out why later when Scotty told me that he found this really nice patch of ground up there that was just perfect for a nice roll - but he forgot Auntie Carla was on his back (silly boy)!!! So he went down to roll and she hollered and he quickly got right back up again and mom and Carla thought it was hilarious!

In other news, yesterday Kathi had some friends come to visit Cami. Kathi is in Arkansas for now, so Cami is bored and out of shape. Mom and Carla groomed her last weekend, and then tried to get her to stand still for photos, but Cami didn't cooperate very well, this photo was the best they could do. Kathi's friends Heidi and Sara (Heidi is Sara's mom) came and Sara took Cami to the round pen to lunge her and ride her. She did really well, and Cami was a very good girl for her. She's going to try to come once a week to work with Cami. Mom will try to get photos next time they come.

Everyone is shedding their winter coat. We get groomed and then go roll in the mud (yes, we still have snow and ice but lots of mud now too). So far Sparkie wins the golden carrot award for the most shedding. You'll see in the photo there is so much hair his hoof has disappeared in it! Mom hates the mud (I think it's kind of fun but grass is better), she wants to get the paddocks cleaned up but can't until things dry out (like maybe in July?). I heard them talking about the weather, and it's supposed to rain most of this week - more mud...

Shady and Becca are both doing well. Becca is really nice, I like her a lot. That's us together in the photo on the left. Shady isn't in with my group - good thing because I would have to show her who's boss and she wouldn't like it! Their mom, Amy T, is going to be away for a while starting next weekend. I think she'll be back before my birthday at the end of May. Oh yeah, my birthday is on May 25th, and I really love carrots, apples, honey-oat granola bars, Nilla wafers and most horsey treats. Not that I'm hinting that you need to get me a gift, but just in case you were wondering.

Now we come to Starlight. Hmm. Well lets just say she's been a bit difficult lately. She has been getting in my face and I've been putting her in her place, then she starts with Cami and Cami trys to teach her proper horse manners, but she just doesn't get it! She and Dolly are always fighting, and even Becca (who is below Starlight in the pecking order) got fed up with her the other day and chased her away! Below left is a photo of her NOT bugging Maggie for once! She clogged up and overflowed the watering trough yesterday, she's been eating the run-in shed - 2 whole batten strips are gone - and mom had to spray the shed with that nasty McNasty stuff that we all hate! Starlight's mom Tracy made her some toys to play with, and my mom gave her a few playthings too, but she's more interested in causing trouble. The other day mom came out to see what the ruckus was because she could hear loud banging from in the house and she thought we were fighting in the run-in. We weren't, it was Starlight again. See there are 2 windows in the shed, and mom opened the shutter on one to let the breeze through (see the photo). It hinges on the bottom so it folds down against the building and Starlight was chewing on it, picking it up and then letting it go so it smashed against the shed and made a lot of noise! It was actually pretty funny the first couple of times she did it, but then she just kept doing it over and over and over and it got old really quickly... I finally made Dolly guard it so Starlight would leave it alone while I napped. Mom got out the McNasty again.

So, between the mud and warmer weather and shedding, we know that spring is coming. We've also seen the ducks and heron back again and lots of geese flying overhead. The other night at dinnertime, mom was getting ready to bring us in but we could hear noises in the woods so we all went down to the fence to see what was coming. You can see in the photo that Jazzy and Scotty were fascinated by something.... But what you can't see in the photo is - turkeys! Yes, there were at least 20 of them that came through the woods and flew over the stream and down toward the round pen. We thought that was it, but we kept watching to be sure and right with the last of the turkeys came 3 deer! (You can see Starlight watching them below.) They stopped to take a drink from the pond, then followed along with the turkeys - do you suppose they are herding together now?