Taking it easy in the heat

Right now it's 104 degrees. Gross. Yesterday it was just a couple degrees cooler. I prepared by shaving the donkeys:

I knew Pedro had a brand on his left shoulder, but I didn't know about this one on his hip. I got the phone number of the guy the brand is registered to. Busy signal so far. I guess I don't legally own him until the brand owner signs a paper saying he has no claim to him. Oh well, I'll get it straightened out, or I won't. Either way it'll be okay.

The only shade the horses have is in hot metal buildings, so I brought them into the yard.

Bella learned how to high line. I'm pretty sure I've never had her on one before, but she did great.

Luc began to learn to stand tied. I've been meaning to do this for a while. He was a lot quieter about it than I expected, but it took him a little bit to realize he didn't have to worry if I walked away. I never tied him fast until today.

In the evening I spent some more time with them with no agenda.

Luc marches to me just like Tonka used to, with the same cheerful expression. He genuinely likes people.

Bella's grazing muzzle stayed on for maybe 2 minutes. So much for that idea. Scout knew just where to pull to get it off.

My sweet,silly boys.

Being in the pasture with them is so peaceful.

Now we're in the yard again, waiting for the heat to pass. The boys are relaxing, except when a horsefly comes around. Luc is tied for real and having no problems, but I do have my knife handy just in case. He's toying with getting the rope over his ears, then seeing what happens. He had a mild panic the first couple times, but now he seems to know when to stop fussing. It's interesting to sit here and watch his thought process.

Pasture Time

I spent some time lounging around in the pasture with Luc and the donkeys yesterday, and I got a few good pictures.

This next set of pictures - you should have been there, it was funny. He found a bit of plastic blown in from the neighbor's, and he picked it up and scared himself. He did a little jig, striking and spinning, trying to get away from it, but didn't let go. He figured it out pretty quickly and dropped it. Then he kept a close eye on it. I kicked it closer and he was very skeptical. He had to check it out from a couple different angles, but he never did feel the need to touch it again. Goofball.

We also went for a short trail ride in the evening but I didn't get any good pictures. 

Catching Up

I'm procrastinating, so I guess it's a good time for a blog post. I often consider ending the blog, but I guess I'm not ready to commit to that yet. One of these days maybe I'll pick it up more regularly again.

Anyway, we've been having lots of fun hiking, riding, and recently we even went horse  camping. That was a tough one, because it was the first time since Tonka had his accident while we were camping and ended up having to be euthanized. Scout was a very good boy on the high line though, and we all made it through unscathed.

The necessary pictorial evidence:

Bella did great on a 10 mile hike up and down a mountain. It was her first time with the panniers. She's one of the good ones.

Almost to the top:

 A nice long snack break before heading back down:

Another good hike & ride. John really enjoys bringing Bella along. He's getting ready to climb Mt. Adams in a couple weeks.

Just a hike, no horses. I like my matched pair of dogs. :)

 Winston helped me put up some temporary fence. He's so cute.

Rolling in the grass in a tree cave. It was HOT that day.

Scout on the high line.

He was so good. Got worried about a bad bull and did some circling, but other than that was a quiet boy. (The bull punched a little hole in my
sister's pickup grill and kept her trapped in there for a while. Seems like a bad one to have running loose on public land.)

Too many cherries! Anyone want to help me pit them all?

Sometimes I think sunshine was created solely to shine on my horse's mane. We had a very relaxing evening ride a couple days ago.

Winston loves the donkeys. I don't know why. I worry that he wants to bite their noses, but he doesn't. They tolerate him.

I guess I don't have many Luc pictures. He's looking good! I wormed him with Quest and he has a lot of good grass to eat 24/7, and he shed out and put on a bunch of weight. He is actually slightly chubby right now. I'm loving his summer color. I should try to get some pictures today.