The Blustery Day

Today was farrier day here on Gray Horse Farm (forgive me being so pretentious but one day, when all the work is done, that will be the name proudly displayed on a sign at the front gate....if I have my way;-.) All of the time put in with Riley this week really paid off because I finally got him haltered. I'm not saying that it was easy. There was a lot of effort involved and a lot more than I'd imagined yesterday because we woke up to near freezing temps and a strong wind blowing in from the Northwest. Horses tend to go a bit crazy when it's windy. My friend, Huston, tells me that it hurts their ears. I'd imagine that's so but I think that it also frightens them because they can't hear and if they can't hear, they constantly think something or someone is sneaking up on them. So, Riley's free lunging in the round pen involved a lot of kicking, bucking and mane throwing this morning. Dale wasn't due to arrive until 10AM but I wanted to get out there before 8AM to get them all fed and haltered. I haltered all of them but Riley and turned them back out into the pasture. Turning them out with halters on is not something I would usually do but Steve had taken the day off (he said to plant corn at the North Shore farm but I think it was mainly to help me because of halter shy Riley.) He fed the other horses hay and then kept an eye on them so that they wouldn't get into trouble. Of course the one that we were really worried about was Danny but the kid did good. Once I got Riley haltered, I called Dale and left a message for him to call me when he was about fifteen minutes from my place so that I could corral the other three (no need to corral Brandy because she never travels very far or very fast.) Steve and I stood and brushed Riley while he munched on hay. When Dale called, the two boys came in just by calling them but I had to go retrieve the diva, Mouse. All's well that ends well and for the most part, they were all well behaved with Dale. We had a few minor eye rolls and snorts mainly caused by the wind and none of them seemed to like the wormer that came after the trim but they all look fine now with their freshly trimmed hooves. Surprisingly, I had no problem getting them back into the round pen for feeding tonight. I'd expected them to act like, "Oh, no! What's she planning now?" But the boys came in in a neat row and Mouse followed once she accepted that she wasn't going to eat Brandy's hefty ration out of Brandy's bucket. For all my worry and anticipation and despite the blustery wind, the day turned out quite well. Now, it's time to schedule the annual visit from the vet........yikes.