Mustang Saga

Several days ago I took the boys wading in the pasture. On the way there I found out that Tonka will bolt if Scout bolts. I knew that already, just hadn't fully experienced it. Really it was only 5 strides at most, so not much of a bolt. Scout was spooked by the dogs.

Today we had quite the snowstorm. The roads were terrifying, mostly due to whiteouts, there were semis and cars off the road all over, and we were having trouble with the truck to boot. I was so glad to get home!

My good dog, being handsome, intense, playful and cute.

Liam made quite the snow pile. The idea was to hollow it out and make an igloo but I don't think that went very well.

I made a little slideshow to share with you. It's less than 10 seconds long, just my boys coming to see me and getting a mid afternoon snack to keep them warm in the nasty weather.

One of my hens was killed today. She's the big round one in the picture above. Her name was Ontsie (named by a 4 year old). I found her after going on a search because the gold hen, Peekaboo, was acting weird. It's good to be attentive to changes in habits and behavior. If I hadn't found the hen until later I might have blamed her death on one of the dogs, but I know none of them was out long enough to kill her, and they don't bother the hens anyway. I don't know what got her but it didn't eat much. I suspect it was a hawk. Why did it have to kill her if it wasn't hungry?! Makes me mad, but mostly just sad. I'll miss her, she was a personable hen. The other two are locked in the chicken coop now to keep them safe. When the snow melts I'll let them out again. Their life isn't much worth living without the enjoyment of scratching around out in the world.

Sorry I haven't been blogging much. I haven't really felt like it when I have time.

I had a great ride with Tonka yesterday that has me seriously considering selling Scout instead of Cisco. It's a hard thing to think about, which is part of why I haven't been blogging. The fact is I'd like to be able to devote my full attention to the horse I really, really love. Also, Tonka is getting resentful of Scout's training. I'm not sure if he just doesn't like helping me because I'm distracted or Scout is irritating, or if he's jealous. That in itself isn't a reason to quit on Scout, but I really wish I didn't have to divide my attention. It's detrimental to my relationship with my One, True Horse.

After that one-on-one time yesterday, with focus on being attuned to each other, Tonka was super sweet and relaxed, not crabby and testy. I enjoyed myself more than I have in a long time and so did he. When I put him back in the pasture, instead of going to join his buddies, graze, or get a drink, he stood at the gate and watched me with his intense look until I got everything put away and went in. I think I want to be a one horse girl.

(Of course we'll never have just one horse, but the others aren't solely mine, and I don't have to ride them.)