Horses, of Course!

This morning, when I went to the barn, only one horse whinnied.  

That was Lily. 

She has become quite the talker of late.  Each day, after six hours of eating in a field with grass up to her top line, she is led to the barnyard for an afternoon eating break.

Five minutes later or the very second I walk out of the garage, Lily is already pacing the fenceline, begging to go back to the pasture. 

I think she would eat nonstop for 24 hours a day, which is not exactly good for her tummy, so I do my best to regulate her consumption of food.

In the mornings, I can hear her out there whinnying by 5:30 which is 30 minutes from the time I plan to go outside. This morning was no different. 

The other two horses, though, were silent.  That's a bit unusual for Mr. CB.  He stays in a barn stall at night, and is usually quite vocal about reminding me that he's in there. 

Not a sound out of him this morning, so, of course, I checked to see if his head was sticking above the stall wall.  No sign of him.

CB was lying down in his stall.  He didn't even talk to me when I entered. He made no effort to get up, so I petted him for a minute and then started nudging him to get up.

He reached around and tried to bite my leg. 

That was when I began to think something was wrong.

Nothing was.  

CB just did not want to get up this morning.

Finally, obligingly, he arose and stretched and stretched. Confident that he was okay, I went on about my business, taking Lily and Lefty to pasture. 

When I came back to get Lefty, he also seemed a little slow on the move too. Turns out, I'm guessing, that these two horses hadn't quite had their first cup of coffee upon my arrival to the barn this morning.  

They eventually got the cobwebs out of their eyes and turned into their normal selves, and, yes, I did hear CB whinny when I left the barn for a short walk while he finished his oats. 

These three horses keep me hopping throughout the day, leading them from one enclosure to another.  

And, during those afternoon eating breaks, when Lily stands in the barnyard for about four hours, I've been known to yell, "Shut up!" at her a time or two.  

Lily is pretty persistent at letting her desires be known. 

Lefty had a busy day yesterday because our neighbor Terra came.  He received his usual grooming and loving.  Before saddle up time, though, Terra and I took a break to work with CB.

The object, as mentioned yesterday:  to get him to trot alongside me with a halter and lead rope.  I led him to the barn to get the whip and then handed it to Terra.

"Okay, I'm going to lead him up and down the lane," I explained. "On my second round, I'll try to get him to trot.  If he doesn't trot right away, just whisk the whip back and forth behind him, and if he starts trotting, step back." 

All went according to plan, perfectly. CB did not trot at my command.  Terra whisked the whip. One second later, he was trotting and Terra had stepped back. 

A second and a third round and no need for a whip.  CB knew immediately what to do when I said, "Trot."  

I was amazed and also relieved that I didn't stumble and fall flat on my face while we were hoofing it down the lane side by side. 

Of course, he received several hugs. He likes his hugs much better than the occasional thumps when he, in his youthful mind, tries to snatch a bite of my flesh. 

CB does not receive reprimands very often but responds accordingly whenever he does. 

Later, Terra rode Lefty up and down the lane and around the pasture several times.  We tried the woods, but the nasty bugs won out within a minute or two, in spite of bug spray. 

So, we went up and down the road and around the yard.  I picked up quite a few steps on my Fitbit, while Terra enjoyed her horse friend. 

When I talk about what CB is learning, I must note that Terra bridled Lefty for the first time yesterday.  She has removed his bridle several times, but we're taking it slowly and carefully on some tasks.  She succeeded with no muss, no fuss. 

It's been fun along the way to add a new lesson with each session, and she has responded accordingly, just like CB.  Unlike CB, she does not receive reprimands, cuz never yet has Terra tried to bite me.  

She's a quick study on pretty much everything she's achieved in her young horsemanship career.  And, that's been fun for me.  Tomorrow she and Lefty will go to my sisters where she'll get some basics on Loping 101. 

And, one more brag about my little CB, who did not want to get out of bed this morning. Later, while he was eating his grain, I groomed him and then added the task of cleaning each of his hooves so that next time John Fuller comes, CB will know for sure how to behave.

He was standing loose in the barn enjoying that grain.  So, I asked him to pick up a front hoof.  He did.  I cleaned it, put it down and then rewarded him with a hug.  

I went to the next front hoof.  He picked it up, I cleaned it and he received his hugging reward again.  As I stepped toward his hind legs, WITHOUT being asked, CB picked his hind hoof and held it while I cleaned it out. 

I stepped to the other side, and again, without cue, he quickly picked it up for its cleaning.

To say I was amazed, an understatement.  This little guy "picks up" stuff, including hooves, SO quickly. 

He's worth his weight in gold, I'd say.  

Anyway, it was a fun day with horses yesterday, and I don't even recall yelling "Shut up" to talkative Lily.  So, it was a really good day.  

Happy Wednesday.

As you can see from the fence, the grass does, indeed, grow greener on the other side. 

Lefty takes his new opportunity of getting to boss someone very seriously.