Piggy Ponies!

At last the ponies get to kick, buck, jump, rear, gallop and best of all ROLL! They are mud balls! Thankfully, the result of this activity has not left any heat in their legs, no pulled shoes, no nicked hooves or bite marks from Blue 'herding' Jessie. Blue was a handful the first day out during a walk to warm their muscles after being in their 12 x12 stalls for 2 weeks! My arm was sore and the chain around his nose did nothing. He wanted to run, run, run! Poor Jessie tried her best at being good with him prancing around. They had to be turned out in the small paddock since there was snow remaining in the cemetery paddock. I placed timothy around the edges since there is no grass and of course, Blue wouldn't let Jess eat after about 5 minutes. There were plenty of other stacks, but she meekly obeys his orders and nibbles on nothing. After a couple of hours, Blue still being wired, I found the perfect opportunity to get her in first...he was pooping! I swiftly grabbed her and out we went! Usually, Blue pushes her out of the way and I have to get him first. Now Jess could peacefully have her fill in the confines of her quiet stall.

The next day was warmer and they were turned out in the Cemetery paddock after a walk down the road and back for 15 minutes. I like to warm them up knowing they will be rambunctious and Jessie being older, needs extra care. Blue, was still bad and was pulling near the end of the walk. No chain on the nose this time since he usually is good once he has regular turnout. Thoroughly disgusted, I prepared to put Jessie in the field first but wouldn't you know she backed right out and decided to play games! I threw Blue in, chained the gate and prayed! An unseen groundhog hole, misplaced rock...anything could cause tendon damage; a dangerous trip or worse, a fall. This doesn't happen often but when it does, I say nothing and calmly let her eat grass and slowly attach her lead rope. Not this time! She trotted on sacred ground, darting here and there avoiding small markers, and various headstones! Then, she decided to go towards the road which really scared me...what if she keeps on going? There is a gate but she could go around it. The land is steep one each side of the gate and floods below so perimeter fencing was only done on one side. Usually a horse will not go far from its pasture mate but she decided to graze in the next tiny field with a steep ravine that goes to the 'river' separating the two fields. Two strikes for the slow approach. Blue's tail was completely vertical during her jaunt and he was blowing hard! He was having a ball watching and running the fence line. Surprisingly she was surefooted the entire time and she finally let me attach her lead rope while she was gobbling grass back at the cemetery.

I was relieved, thanked God, and watched her drink water and monitored her breathing for a few minutes after I put her in the paddock but of course Blue blocked the gate and I had to remedy that situation first! Finally, they calmed down. That evening, I was happy to find legs and hooves were cool with no heat, shoes were still intact but the woof boots were gone. That's okay, I can find them later.

Today has been good so far. We took our mile walk and due to excellent behavior they received a grass break (where there is real grass, not down trodden stubble's of grass as in the paddock). Both received lots of praise and Blue was an angel like Jessie usually is. The bugs are out, can you believe it? These honey bee things are all over the farm. Nugget got stung Monday and they buzzed around Jess's stall while I cleaned. I also saw a grown fly, and some tiny delicate flying gnats. Otherwise, all is well on the farm!