Isn't he somethin'?

I don't mind if you don't agree, we all have different tastes in horses. But for me, he's just got that special something. I sure do count myself lucky to have my dream horse right here at home.

You may have noticed how good he's being in the picture above. I "tied" him there with nothing but the power of our combined minds and I wasn't sure if he'd stay put, but he did, through saddling and unsaddling and all my dinking around. Even with Scout rip-roaring back and forth in the pasture right in front of him. Good Tonka. He does know how to ground tie but he also knows how good grass is so he doesn't always stay.

We rode for a full half hour today. I rode while waving the flag around for the first time. You'd think after all these years I'd have done that before but it never occurred to me. We did circles, leg yields, blah, blah, blah. Then we went up and down the driveway a few times. It was pretty exciting stuff. When I rode back toward the horse trailer he thought he'd like to keep on going out over the hill, so we did. On the way back his hind end was slipping out from under him, which could be a sign he was getting fatigued or might have just been the mud. Either way, best for him that we be done at that point. We have to take things gradually.

Grace had visitors on Sunday but they didn't seem very interested in her. I didn't feel that great about it either and I realized it was because if she finds a home I want it to be with someone who is really excited about her. These people didn't seem too taken with her, and maybe just didn't like mustangs. That's okay. I can wait. I haven't even really advertised her, and I don't have high hopes of finding her a home in this economy. And I feel okay with that right now.

Yesterday I rode Tonka for about 20 minutes at a nice relaxed walk. He didn't take one misstep. I'm going to ride again today if it kills me. I should ride Scout also but we'll see. I'm sick again. But the weather is really nice for this time of year so I'll take advantage of it as much as I can.

And that's about all I've got. Boring, I know, but there isn't much of interest going on here. I think I'll go sit down again now.

Miss Gracie was a very good girl today. First we just walked around together, friendly-like. then she met the flag, and we did some lunging. She did much better today than yesterday, when I didn't have a flag. Yesterday she was being a bit of a pill about wanting to go back to Bella instead of walk forward in a circle. Today that didn't happen and we had a lot of restful thinking and licking and chewing between relaxed circles on a loose lead.

Oh, and yesterday she got her front hooves trimmed. All she needed was a good rasping. She was amazingly good for it. I had done some preparatory work about a month ago and she obviously remembered it.

I took her out for a walk and got some new pictures of her.

She also got to check out the trailer. She was very curious and relaxed about it. I didn't let her get in. I think I want to take the front divider out first, to make more room. This trailer is barely wide enough to turn around in, and if she does panic and turn I don't want either of us to get hurt.

Wee Mister Stinky got a nice soothing oatmeal bath today too. He's so crazy after a bath! I really ought to get a video of his munchkin growling and rolling and flopping about. It's fun.

Today I made a trip to Spokane for horse supplies and ended up coming back with almost nothing. I did get the vitamins for the horses though. Unfortunately Scout is too picky to eat the HorseGuard that we have locally, so I have to travel to get Equerry's. Actually, I like having an excuse to look at tack and stuff so I don't mind making the trip. I did drool a bit over some headstalls and a Myler bit but my son dragged me through the stores so quick I didn't have much time to dream about what I can't have. I was pretty bummed that they were sold out of black oil sunflower seeds though. They have an excellent deal on them right now.

When I got home I took my Tonka out for a little fun. Chipped the mud off, with most of it flying in my eyes. I also had a flag to play with. He does what I want nicely but rather slowly. I'd like more precision, better attention and less sloppiness. The flag definitely helped. What I really want is a lighter flag. The Buck Brannaman flag is awesome but I can't afford it. A lightweight dressage whip would work if I could find one. *smacking forehead for not looking in Spokane*

When the wind got worse and I had to brace my body against it I took him to the barn and chopped off his toes. He needed a little trim. I left him there in Scout's stall and run, with Scout and Soxy next door in the pasture. I'll move Scout out tomorrow. I'm going to try Tonka and Soxy together since they're both "special needs," and the other three in the other pasture.

Speaking of the other three, I have a family coming to look at Grace on Sunday. It's odd because I only posted her two places and one of them was a nationwide group on Facebook. The other was this blog and I know none of you are looking for a horse. But one of my more local Facebook friends saw her and passed on the info to a friend who is in need of a horse.

So over the next several days Gracie is going to get a crash course in hoof handling, trailer loading, and a refresher on basic manners. All the stuff I should be doing anyway. And I'll find time for my boy too. Maybe he can practice trailer loading in the new trailer too. Scout is the only one who has ridden in it so far.

Oh, and going back to "special needs" Soxy, she's doing spectacularly well! I hardly ever hear her breathing loudly. She doesn't eat hay anymore, which is kind of a bummer for the bank account, but she loves her warm wet meals morning and night, and she still chews on the dry grass in the pasture. She just spits it out though, since it just balls up in her mouth.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Hope you have a warm and cozy holiday with lots of good things to eat. And a warm, fuzzy horse to snuggle. :)

Benadryl is a wonder drug. I don't know why my egg allergy has come back stronger than ever, but after eating mayo today I wanted to die. I guess I shouldn't complain too much, it's not like I really was dying or in need of a trip to the hospital. But I was very, very glad when the Benadryl kicked in and I started to feel human again.

I had no time with Tonka today. He exercised himself (and his pasture mates) plenty, so at least he got his conditioning in. He was having so much fun prancing around the pasture all covered in mud.

Speaking of fun, I turned Scout out into another pasture with Soxy today. To say he was overjoyed would be an understatement. The acrobatics! Twisty-turny bucking, high kicks, running, jumping, rolling - the whole works. He doesn't seem to be lame. I couldn't find any swelling in the leg. Yay!

Between him, the dogs, and my son I was surrounded by the overflowing exuberance of young boys. It was fun. They sure can make a person happy.

I got to ride my horse today! MY horse, my Tonka. It's been a long time. 114 days. That's like, a third of a year.

We did some groundwork, grooming, sacking out, saddling, more groundwork, bridling, more groundwork, and then I climbed on. And I was HOME. I've missed him so much.

Everything was done at a mellow pace, with just a bit of trotting, and when I rode, it was only for 10 minutes at most. We'll build from there.

With Scout convalescing and Bella not quite good enough to be messing with riding in bad footing, I figured now is the perfect time to devote my time to MY boy without feeling guilty about leaving the others alone.

On that note, if anyone knows anyone who would be interested in adopting a young mustang mare, send them my way. Grace has got to go. John has absolutely no time for anything outside of work anymore. She'd be just $25 for the reassignment fee. I don't want to send her back to the BLM corrals. Here in Idaho I don't think they even try to find them a home, they just put them back in with the other hundreds of horses in holding. Grace leads and is respectful of fences, and she's about 14.2 hands. She's a gray horse so she will go through all kinds of fun color changes until she is white.

It's Friday. Snow fell all night and it's a beautiful, bright morning. The air is still and I was able to wander around outside without my gloves on for the first time in a while. What a lovely day! (I think I'm starting to feel better now.)

I love our black walnut trees in the snow:

Still some walnuts hanging on:Beautiful:
Playful:

And a crappy pic of Scout, still in his temporary enclosure this morning.
Good boy!

Scout got the go-ahead today to come off bute and try a bigger area. And none too soon! He was starting to rearrange the panels in the barn, and I'd caught him taking off at a run and having a bucking fit in his little 12x16 stall. Not enough room for that kind of nonsense in there.

As I expected, he became a fire-breathing idiot when I let him out. He ran, fell, bucked, and then just ran right under the temporary fence I'd set up for him. I hadn't turned on the charger yet. My bad, I know better than that. Anyway, he was fine, still enclosed in the regular fencing. He had a good graze while I went and plugged in the fence. When I put him back he was a bit of a jerk. Stall rest is not good for manners in a youngster. But he's calmed down now and is quietly eating his hay. That's a lot of exercise for a wee man who hasn't been out in two weeks. I'll check his leg this afternoon. Hopefully no harm has been done.

All this excitement when I'm not feeling well and should be down for the day. Not that I mind. It's good to see him out in the air again. I'm going to go sit in front of the TV and maybe even take a nap before the kids get home. Bella will have to take the day off. I'm sure she'll be heartbroken. :)

AHA! Apparently I've been working on getting sick. Tonight I feel awful. It's kind of a relief though, to know it's just a bug. I was beginning to think there was something really wrong with me mentally.

Scout got to come out of his stall for the first time in almost two weeks. We went for a little walk. He was kinda high spirited but not as bad as I'd feared. The leg still has a very slight swelling in it (I think) but I couldn't see any lameness at the walk. Maybe tomorrow I'll take a video of us at the trot so I can see how he's moving. It's hard to see, not having help.

Bella and I played a bit today as well. I had planned on saddling her up but ended up just doing naked groundwork :) and going for a walk. We went in and out of one of our ditches, through the narrow and the wide, the deep and the shallow, just to work on being mindful of our choice of steps and not rushing. She never once tried to jump or get ahead of me. She's such a nice girl. Altogether too sensitive sometimes, but that can be worked on. I found a broken old rusty T-post half buried out in the field, and when I threw it over the fence she startled pretty badly. So I practiced my javelin hurl for a while and did some waving and silly stuff that would have looked pretty stupid to anyone who happened to be passing. In her defense, it was a cold and windy day that would have had any horses' nerves up. Normally she's not quite so jumpy.

We have lots of snow coming. Or not. Depends on which weather site you look at. Currently it's snowing but it's supposed to turn to rain. And it's very cold and windy. Blech. But I have been getting out with the horses, if only for a little while. That's a good thing.

A question on forelocks:

I realize I'm a bit vain about my horses' manes. I like them as long as they'll naturally grow. I figure they're there for a reason. Defense against flies, maybe warmth. I think the forelock may help protect from the sun too. But Bella's is so long and fine that it's constantly getting into her eye and sticking. Her eye gets boogery and you can hear the lids slapping together as she blinks to try to clear it. Every now and then it actually wraps around her eyeball. So I've considered trimming it. Would you? Or would you just braid it? But if it's braided why have it at all?

Which I guess brings me to the next question, since I think I may want to trim it - how do you trim it and keep it looking natural? Would you cut it in a V shape and then use thinning shears? I'm no hairstylist but do know that I definitely don't want her to look like that one stooge, the one with the bangs. Moe?

Today I put it in a ponytail. Then eventually I braided it because the ponytail still got in her eyes.
I haven't had the time or the drive to work with her since last Wednesday. Lame of me, I know. Today I just got her out and played for a half hour. She seems to be getting a bit of a work ethic. Me, not so much. She'll never get there if I don't. I need to quit making excuses. But with the weather the way it is, it's hard. Why yes, I would like some cheese with my whine, thank you very much. :)

I feel so much better when I get out and play with a horse. I wish I knew why I have so little energy, even for something I love so much.

But! Onward and forward. This lethargy will pass, and so will the winter, and I have many years ahead to play with my fuzzy friends. I saw a pretty wall plaque the other day that says, "If you're lucky enough to have a horse, you're lucky enough." And I am. :)

Bella and I did some more ground work today and it was good. Tonight I went out and gave her an apple and a little massage and scratched her udder for her.

I had a lot of fun with the dogs today. Took Huck and Blue through the bank drive through. They said I have to bring them in next time so they can pass the pup around. :) Then went to get a coffee (I try not to splurge but my coffee at home had a dead earwig in it.) and the coffee lady in Potlatch is so awesome. She gave them each 3 big treats. So now Blue is learning the joys of the drive-thru. Huck knows the drill so well he's alert and drooling before we even get to the window.

Then we went for the puppy's second shot and wormer. He's almost doubled in weight! And thank goodness, the heart murmur is gone.

I'd kinda like your opinion here. It's a long story but the point at the end is this question: Is three an unreasonable number of dogs? Mainly I'm just kinda ranting though...

There's this vet that I can't stand and my dogs don't like her either. A few years back we had a couple emergencies and couldn't avoid her. At the time, we had a rescue dog, Ben.
He was a super lovable chocolate lab who had lived his life in a filthy kennel and had bad mange and was kinda old for his age. I spent hundreds of dollars on getting him well, which isn't really the point, but it's part of the story I guess. His days here were filled with happy running and playing with the kids, and lots of love. Eventually his knees gave out. The cruciate ligament snapped. This vet had the gall to rub it in my face that we "couldn't afford" the surgery for him because we had "so many dogs." That wasn't the case at all! Even if I could have afforded it I wouldn't have spent thousands of dollars to put him through surgery and rehab for both knees. Or even one. It just wasn't even a consideration in my mind.

Now, every time I see her in there, she greets me super cheerfully and makes some sort of jab about all my dogs. Like today, "She's always getting puppies! She just can't help herself!" Excuse me, but this is my second puppy...

And - We only have 3 dogs! We've never had more than three dogs. Is that a lot of dogs? To me it's the upper limit, but it's reasonable. Certainly not hoarding or anything. And the fact that we're in at the vet with them and current on everything shows we're not neglecting them. Besides, look at how healthy they are. Well, besides India, but she's just old. She gets daily meds for her arthritis, plus several arthritis supplements my vet recommends, and they get some of the best dog food on the market. And they all get plenty of attention.

Maybe she thinks we still have the dogs that have died over the years, and the strays I've brought in to scan for microchips. I'm about to the point where I'm going to confront her on it. I know I should just let it pass but it also wouldn't hurt to nicely point out that I don't have fifty thousand dogs. And it might make me feel better. She really ticks me off.

Today I remind myself to be thankful that I have another horse to play with.

Isn't it silly? Ridiculous? I have an old arthritic horse with a sinus tumor who can't breathe, a younger lame horse with EPSM and a healing severe hoof abscess who just recently recovered from a DDFT injury, a young horse who is now painfully lame and on stall rest, and so I'm trying again with the horse that had to have stifle surgery and then foundered. What the heck is wrong with my luck? What happened to the idea that mustangs are tough and hardy? Of course Soxy's not a mustang but the rest of them are. I think horses may as well be made of glass.

I'm not including Grace in my count because she's not really mine and I'm not sure she's a permanent resident here.

So anyway, back to Bella. She's a challenge, in a very mental sort of way. She's sweet as long as I don't ask her to do anything. She gets resentful when I ask her to work. She was downright pissy under saddle yesterday. But she's so darn sensitive any amount of pressure sends her up the wall. I find myself really thinking hard and wondering what is the right thing to do with her.

Something that the trainer said to me last week keeps coming back to mind. If a horse thinks you are on the same level in the pecking order, or lower, it will resent being asked to work or told what to do. What an eye opener that was. Here I've been all concerned about my horses' feelings, and feeling bad myself because they didn't seem to like working with me. And then this new information is stated and I'm thinking, "Wow, that is so obvious, how could I not have known that!"

Which in turn takes me back to when I was watching Keith work with Scout and it made me realize I was making way too many allowances for Bella because she's so emotional.

So I'm going to do some Bella Boot Camp. She's going to be asked to toe the line, and if she has to get emotional about it that's just what's going to have to happen. I'm not going to be mean or super bitchy, but I'm going to ask her to do what I want, when I want and come down and end on a good, relaxed note. Sounds so simple. But I think she's going to have a hard time with it. So am I. Like so many of us, I'd much rather just be her friend. But I don't want to get hurt because she thinks I don't have a right to ask her to walk out when I'm in the saddle.

Which brings me to yesterday when we had a nice working session in the round pen. I saddled her and bridled her in the Myler comfort snaffle. I had been riding her in a bosal, you may remember. That was just another allowance to keep her mental discomfort level down, so I decided she's going to have to ride in a bit. This is a wonderful bit too, all my horses have loved it. She liked it too, settled down and quit mouthing quite quickly.

Ground work went very well and she flexed and gave to the bit very nicely while I was on the ground. When I got in the saddle she did well, except she had a hard time giving to the bit and backing at the same time. This was tough for her in a halter as well, when she was learning to lead. No big deal, just stuff to work on. But when I asked her to walk out she felt comfortable enough to start tossing her head and I felt her body bunch up under me. I don't like that feeling at all. I stayed on and walked her around, did some more work on giving to the bit, then did some more ground work, then got on again. Same attitude. I think what I need to do is push her up into a trot. It scares me though, the idea that she may buck. So I'm going to keep doing ground work and building respect for now. It shouldn't be long before I'm in the saddle again.

I'm not upset or complaining about Bella, I actually think it's kind of nice to have an "Aha!" moment that gives me things to work on and think through. We're both going to grow. Constantly growing, with all there is to learn and do with the horses. It's good stuff.

This all must be very boring to read. But it helps me get my head around it.

The vet just left. No definite diagnosis but the problem seems to be either down in the joint or around the sesamoid. I guess that's better than high in the tendon. It could be the suspensory ligament. He may have just twisted the joint. He might have a bone bruise, and he might have a fracture of the sesamoid but he thinks that's unlikely because of the amount of improvement we've seen so far. I'm supposed to call him on Thursday with an update. We can do x-rays if we need to at that point. But for now the treatment is stall rest, ice 2x daily, and bute. Basically what he told me to do anyway but I feel better now for some reason. I guess it's just nice to have some information.

I just read that one of my favorite bloggers is in the process of passing away. She's been fighting cancer and met every challenge head on, but suddenly she's slipping away. I "met" her online many years ago, long before I got Tonka, on a mustang forum. She's a wonderful, brilliant, caring lady, a talented artist, a horse lover. She'll be missed. I'm glad she's not in pain but I really wish things could have turned out differently.

Well, today was discouraging. Scout's swelling went down quite a bit. Enough to feel the lumps on his tendon that show this is probably not an abscess. If it is a tendon injury, and I'm pretty sure it is at this point, it's much worse than what Tonka did this summer. I'll call my vet in the morning.

This afternoon I put Grace in with Tonka and Bella for the first time. I took Tonka out initially, to try to control the chaos. They had been living right next to each other for about a week, so they'd had time to hang out. Which turned out to be a great thing, because it went over with very little drama. Bella let Grace know she was in charge, and they settled down to eat. When I let Tonka in, Bella kept him away at first with just a little posturing. When she let him approach they simply said hello and that was it. Later they decided to tear around a bit, but I think it was just in fun, or maybe something spooked them, but they weren't fighting.


We raked about a ton of leaves out of the yard today, but we took a break in the middle to play with the puppies.

This picture cracked me up:
India loves apples, and it's an all you can eat buffet this time of year.

Big fart, little fart, and old fart. :)

Scout hasn't improved yet. The swelling is worse today. I'm hoping to see a draining abscess next time I go out there. But all these worse case scenarios keep going through my head. I'm a worrier. But I'm doing what I can, for now. If nothing resolves by Monday then we'll have the vet take a closer look. I'd hate to have them do a bunch of diagnostics just to find out it was an abscess after all.

On a brighter note, Blue is so smart! He's not quite 9 weeks old and today I started teaching him a few things. He learned "sit" and "shake" today. We started heel but that will take time. He's just following the food. He LOVES food. Goes totally gaga over it.

I've been doing a little groundwork with Bella and Tonka, hoping I can get to riding them again. It's pretty ridiculous that I have 5 horses here and not one I can take out for a ride.

The weather should be nice tomorrow, so I hope to enjoy lots of horseplay! Hope you all have a lovely Sunday too.

Scout gave me a scare today. I found him pointing his right front foot in front of him. At first I hoped it was my imagination, but nope, he wasn't just shifting his weight. Then I found one of the wooden hay feeders torn to bits. Boards with screws sticking up strewn about. Crap.

I scrubbed his hoof, didn't find a puncture. Checked his leg, it was swollen up to the knee but I didn't feel any irregularities. He reacted to pressure but I think he thought I wanted him to pick his foot up.

I called my vet and in the course of describing the problem realized I'd probably overlooked the obvious because of that torn up hay feeder. I think it's a hoof abscess. Last Tuesday I noted that he was toe-stepping, specifically on that foot. I attributed it to hoof pain because of the newly removed shoes. I rode him Wednesday in Easyboots with no problem. But now it's much, much worse. The heat and swelling seem to be the worst in the heel bulbs. I exfoliated the sole and still did not find any sign of a puncture, bruise, or anything of the sort. (His heels were slightly bruised when I removed the shoes but that was old bruising.) I also found that he walked better over time as we headed from the pasture to the barn. I'd think that might be indicative of an abscess, since movement is supposed to help. But maybe I'm grasping at straws. Abscesses are great, I like them. Because once they rupture the horse is fine and dandy. What I don't want is a puncture, infection, or tendon injury.

I'm following the doctors orders and soaking in Epsom salts and warm water twice a day, with bute twice a day, until Monday. If an abscess doesn't rupture I'll probably have the vet out to see if it may be a tendon or a puncture.

Meanwhile poor Scout is stallbound, to keep his hooves clean and just in case it is a tendon and not an abscess. He liked it at first but when he saw me out in the pasture playing with Tonka he did some banging on the gate. I think he's getting bored. He dumped all his water and scattered the few things I left in reach of the gate. He's pretty predictable that way.

It's puppy picture time! I worked at the spay/neuter clinic today and came home with a headache so no horse work. (Shh, don't tell anyone, but I think I may be allergic to cats.)

Rawr!

This moose is Huckleberry's favorite toy.
I won't be offended if you laugh at poor little goofy Blue.

And here's Huck at the same age. He was kinda silly looking himself. And wall-eyed too. So hopefully Blue will grow out of it. And if he doesn't, so be it, he'll be cute. But I'll want to call him Igor.

Today Scout loaded in the trailer with his saddle on for the first time (stirrups tied up of course). He wasn't very comfortable about it. I need to do some trailer loading practice. He wants to walk into me, and I want him against the wall on his bad eye, which he doesn't want to do. So, practice makes perfect.

I also used Easyboots for the first time today, on all 4, and he went a lot better than he did yesterday. He was toe-stepping for the first time in his life. I think having shoes on set us back. Unfortunately he's right between sizes for Easyboots - 2's are too big and 1's are too small. Irritating. But for our purposes today the 2's worked.

We had the opportunity to go to another one of the group lessons, and it was a lot of fun. I think I really need this. I hope we can make our schedules match at least some of the time.

My notes for today:
Groundwork at liberty:

• Need to be able to turn to the outside or inside (I've taught him to only turn to the inside). Need to make my cues for each type of turn more obviously different. It's kinda hard working in a round pen that's bigger than what I'm used to. (Excuses, excuses)
• SPANK HIM when he's bad. He kicked out at me today as I was sending him off in the round pen. The trainer said, "He'd love to kick you right now" and I disagree with that. If he wanted to kick me, he has plenty of opportunity every day to do that. He's flipping me off, not punching me in the face. But either way, it's rude and not the kind of relationship I want to build. So I need to REALLY get after him when he shows attitude, every time. This could lead to more of a can-do attitude instead of the "Jeez, this is boring and I hate it," look.
  
• Speed it up, expect more, and expect it NOW. (Same theme as last time)
• On the line, we did some prep work for our later riding work - turns on the haunches. We were working on our "send." We'd back the horse, and if we're sending to the left (my left, Scout's right) we'd lift the lead (direct rein) as the horse's right foot was leaving the ground, making it easier for them to move in that direction. Both ways, of course. He did it, but we need to do more homework on this one. He's so lazy, I need to get some life in him to make it go better. (Same theme as always)

Riding:

• Walk, trot, turn on haunches into the fence (this is where the liberty work turning into the fence will pay off). Leave the turn at the same gait you went into it (hah! - again, more homework). To turn on the haunches into the fence to the right, direct rein with the right rein, follow with an indirect left rein and a push of the left leg. Trot off in the new direction. I'm not totally sure about that indirect rein though... Maybe I made that part up.
• We did some serpentines, way more complicated than I've done before. All my appendages are attached to Scout's appendages and my legs got tired and I'm not sure we got anywhere... The idea was to have all 4 legs equally reaching through the turns. My direct rein moved his inside front leg, indirect rein lightly and my outside leg pushing at the front of the girth to drive his outside front , and my inside leg back, pushing his hind end out. Something like that, anyway. That's not much to remember is it? And then to feel whether it's going right? Gah! They worked on this last week so didn't spend much time on it today. That's what I get for being behind.
• Turn on the haunches starts by backing, and I need to get Scout backing with his face vertical, not behind the bit. Basically it's the same as what we did on the ground - back, then direct rein to the side as that leg is leaving the ground. Then, building on that, push the outside leg to push his outside leg over. Then, building on that, take another step back and repeat. Eventually we would be just rocking back between steps rather than backing again.

These are the keys to starting to get collection. A turn on the haunches requires that the horse be on his haunches. When he's on his haunches he's able to get collected and have his athletic ability available for use.

Tonight I got Tonka out and did some of the groundwork with him. It was really nice to see that his muscles aren't all bound up and he's moving pretty freely right now. He's a good boy. I wouldn't mind taking him for a ride, even if it's only for a few minutes. I'll see how he feels over the next couple days.

I really have not been spending enough time with the horses. But I did get a ride in with Scout tonight. He's still a good boy. He did a little bolt when we spooked an owl out of the trees but it was understandable. I'm just glad he didn't step in one of the holes we were standing right next to. Other than that it was a great ride, with progress made.

Huck says, "Yay! I found my kid!"

Huckleberry and Blue are playing a game right now that involves Huck flaunting a bone and Blue racing back and forth and pouncing. It's pretty cute. They just ran all the way across the house together, Blue going "pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat" and Huck going "thumpa-thumpa-thumpa." I'd like Blue to go to sleep so I can go feed without his help. But at least they're being entertaining while they're being inconvenient.

Speaking of feeding horses, what times of day do you feed? Do you keep on a strict schedule or are you more lax about it? Why?

I don't keep on a schedule but I do my very best to space their feedings 12 hours apart.