Mustang Saga

The horses were absolutely insane yesterday. Just about coming out of their skin. I'd gotten Scout and Cisco out, with the intention of riding Cisco and just letting Scout stand tied. Right as I was tying them up some yahoo over on the highway started gunning his dirt bike back and forth. Normally I'd expect my horses to take interest but not over-react about it. It must have been the weather, and maybe the fact that I'd rearranged some fence. Or maybe some strange alignment of the stars. Who knows what motivates these goofy critters.

After I tied him, somehow Scout got the blocker ring unclipped from the round pen and came running around, then tried to go in between Cisco and the trailer. Unfortunately Cisco was tied to the trailer and couldn't get out of the way. He just about sat back and freaked out, but just then Scout backed off. Scout is such a pushy little bugger. I took Scout in the round pen and asked him to move off, hoping he could get rid of some of his anxiety by moving his feet. He calmed down enough to pay attention and stay with me so I tied him up again, more securely, and went to finish pulling burrs out of Cisco's tail. Scout was wiggle worming around and I thought he might start rearing but he didn't. I think the bike had been put away by this point and Scout was just plain wound up.

After I was done with Cisco I stood with Scout for a while, grooming him, and he managed to calm down, so I decided to call it a day. I put him up, went back for Cisco (I wasn't about to lead both of them in that state of mind) and he gave me trouble coming back into the pasture. He decided to shoot backward and spin and rip the rope out of my hand. For no reason that I could see... When he does that I'm always tempted to just leave him and let him wear the halter and rope all day. But I caught him and calmly asked him for little maneuvers on the line, hoping to get his attention. We backed, pivoted, etc, and he did what I asked, but he has a way of doing what you're asking while not really being engaged in the activity. He stays tense, and has a far-off look in his eye. I did manage to get him to look at me and relax as I took his halter off.

Some days I wonder about horses...

Today they get the day off, I'm not in the mood and the weather is just as bad as it was yesterday. I got a bunch of work done cleaning my hay area and rearranging my feed tubs. Got to play with the tractor too. I finished my outside work just as the snow started to blow in sideways. Now I'm trying to get warm. Later I might go out and groom some of them in the pasture. It's so satisfying to see all that hair falling to the ground.

Tonight I'm making the 7MSNRanch artisan bread and cowboy chili. Yum. Looking forward to that.