Braid...Re-do Do

Either Danny or his brothers made a mess out of his braid overnight. I'm thinking maybe the brothers considering where the biggest mess was located. It really doesn't matter who was to blame or whether the cause was play or jealousy, we had a do-over this morning and I think I did a much better job on the braid this time around. :) 

Burrs and Braids

Spent the first part of the afternoon de-burring and braiding Mouse and Danny. Django is covered with them and he grew impatient, I grew tired and my fingers sore before we were done so his proper grooming will wait until another time. Riley was just being uncooperative today but he's not as burr covered as the others. Neither is Old Brandy but her mane is much shorter and easier to keep clean.

Sensory Experiences

I've neglected this blog lately. I've had a lot going on personally for the last two months and I'm afraid that I've neglected my horses, too. They are still cared for, fed and watered, but the neglect has come from how little time I have to spend with them. They are fine but I know they miss me as much as I miss them. When I do have a few minutes to spend with them, they fight over my attention as if it was a sweet delectable treat. They do need that attention now. The cockle burrs are out and clinging to every bit of mane and tail. I spent hours one day last week picking them out but it was a futile effort. They seemed to have acquired twice as many the next day. But I will keep trying and hopefully Steve will get his bushhog back on the farm and cut those demon weed down, ha.

Danny is growing ever taller and it does seem, ever sweeter. He is the gentlest, calmest little guy and he ran with me yesterday, me huffing along with my overweight body and him, doing the smoothest, sharpest fox trot you'd ever want to see. I need new photos of him. I also need to start working with him, preparing him to go under saddle by Spring I hope. Also,hopefully, I can film a lot along the way of that training so that I can share this with my friend, Huston Jenkins, in Missouri.

I was reminded today of a small part of why I love horses so much. The DHC challenge for today was to use your 5 senses to describe a memory involving nature. Not surprising is the fact that my memory involved horses. What is surprising is how my earliest tactile memory is of a horse but it took me 49 years to get one of my own. I don't know how I lived so long without a horse in my life. There's so much to remember and cherish, the sweet aroma of burying your nose in the horse's mane and taking in an odor that is a mix of sweet hay, flowers and sunshine, the coarse feel of the mane against your face and in your hand as you mount, the squeak of the leather and smell of saddle soap and leather, the soft nicker of the horse and its even softer nuzzle, the feel of a tender breeze caressing your skin and the gentle rays of sunshine warming it, feeling the horse move underneath you, connecting with the horse and appreciating how it responds to even subtle cues and soft hands, looking around at this beautiful country we live in and seeing so much green, so green that you can actually smell it, almost feel it and a blue sky above that dazzles, and finally, looking into those soft brown eyes and having them look back at you, whispering softly and knowing as a child or an adult and, even when others scoff, that the horse understands, on some level, it always understands.

And now, I think I'll take the time or make the time to go and visit for a while with my horses. I'll breath in their sweet odor, caress those gentle muzzles, and obediently scratch the itchy spots they point out.....they have me so well trained. :)

The Fly

I nearly got on the wrong side of some kicking hooves this morning and they came from a very unusual source, Danny. Unusual because I've never before seen Danny kick, ever. He paws when he's playing but I've never once seen both rear feet off of the ground until today. I was leaving the pasture after feeding. I had Brandy's feed bucket tucked up under my shirt so that the others wouldn't know what I'd been up to down at the little barn. You might not think horses are that smart but trust me, anything to do with food and even the dullest horse is a genius...and I happen to think that all of mine are all pretty bright anyway. I paused because I was startled when I saw Danny kick out and catch Django in the chest. The two of them were in the pass through across the road which separates and connects the two pastures. I'm standing there watching them when I suddenly realized that Danny was squeezing around the corner and making a bee line straight for me. I started scrambling across the fence but only managed to get one leg across before he brushed past me, knocking me off balance and the rest of the way across the fence; it was kind of like a very ungraceful dismount because I managed to keep my feet but it didn't look pretty. I got angry and threw the feed bucket at him which was of course the wrong thing to do because it didn't punish him, it only made him turn around and come back toward me so that he could check out the bucket for food. At first he acted normal but then he started doing almost a rocking horse/bronco kick, rocking forward and kicking back with both rear feet over and over. He circled and then ran to me again and that's when I finally saw the fly. It was the biggest horse fly I've ever seen, at least two inches long, and it was latched on to his rump and not letting go. Poor guy was trying his best to get it off of him but he couldn't reach it with his mouth and the fly evidently had a good seat because the kicking wasn't even loosening its grip much less dislodging it. He finally calmed down a bit, walked over to the hay beside Django and began to eat. I thought this was my opportunity to swat the thing off of him. I actually thought that I could reach across Django with a stick and get the fly but that failed for all sorts of reasons. I know, it wasn't a great plan to begin with but it's the best I could come up with at the moment. Finally after he took off and started kicking again and hit Django in the chest again...poor, long suffering Django, ha...., I edged up to his head...he wasn't wearing a halter...and calmly soothed him as I kept one hand on him so that I was ready to start moving around with him if I needed to. I worked my way slowly along his side until I made it far enough back to reach that fly. I swatted it as hard as I could and expected it to hit the ground so that I could stomp it but I think I just made it mad because it looped and did a dive bomb right back to his rump again. I took that as my cue to get the hell out of Dodge. Danny started doing the bronco routine once again and then ran for the barn. Mouse looked concerned, watched him all of the way to the barn, turned and looked at me (probably hoping I'd go so she wouldn't have to) and then veeery slowly made her way down toward the barn. I've never seen that horse move with so much hesitation. She reached the corner of the little barn and then just stood there with her head cocked, listening. Evidently, he'd calmed down because she turned and was headed back up the hill when I finally climbed into my truck. No one would believe me and probably everyone will think I'm crazy for talking to a horse but when I was trying to get close enough to get the fly, I kept shouting at Mouse who was next to him but still a safe distance away, "There's a fly on his rump. Get the fly off his rump." She'd look directly at the fly and then looked back at me with that same look as if to say, "I'm not going anywhere near those kicking hooves. You do it!"

I woke them up this morning to wish Danny a very happy 2nd birthday. I think that is obvious in some of these photos and in the suspicious look on Danny's face as he comes up the hill toward me. At first he was running and then he stopped and turned to look at both his brother and his mom as if to ask, "What do you think she's up to? She's never here this early."

 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DANNY BOY!!!