Indy Blooms Weekend 2023: Friday

I did not sleep well Thursday night; I was just too excited to see my friends here in my home and at the show. And we sure packed a lot into the weekend - I just sorted the hundreds of photos I took and I have enough topics for at least five blog posts!

I have to be honest - when I received this text around  2:00 PM from Steff, I cried, "Noooooo!" because I knew that would delay them about an hour and I was already bouncing off the walls like a little kid!

As soon as everyone had arrived and Barn Buddy Kelsey was off work and had joined us, we headed out to the barn. First stop? Tim's amazing horse drawn vehicle collection.

Ellen hadn't been able to come last year, so as this year's newbie, we asked her to pose for the less desirable tasks.

Like being the prisoner in the 19th century jail wagon.

Or wearing the skunk skin as a hat. 

She put up with our antics 

and was a very good sport.

Liz takes a peek at the contents of the medical bag in the Doctor's buggy

After that, Kelsey led the way into the tack room where we could ooo and ahhhh at her lovely tack.

Of course, as we looked at everything, we talked and talked and talked.

There was so much to see in the new barn! But the best was yet to come - the horses!

Ever social, Two Socks came right up to the gate, eager to say hello and to see if we had brought anything good to eat.

Dolly will do a show stretch so Kelsey went out to show us what she could do. (Er, what Dolly could do. I don't think that Kelsey show stretches but you never know! LOL)

Sultanna came over to say hello to Kelsey and disrupted the demonstration, but I honestly don't think Kelsey minded. 

I love that Kelsey has a barn pack that she wears when she visits Dolly. It can hold a LOT of treats. 

As we all found as as Kelsey shared with us all. It seemed to be a bottomless pit, it held so much!

I brought candy canes for all to offer the herd, and Steff brought carrots for them all. We had very happy ponies!

Steff photographs Two Socks. Look how big she is, and she just turned one!

Kelsey and I had let Tim know when we'd be out there and he came to say hello. He demonstrated the bell, and true to form, there was an explosion of hoofbeats as the herd scattered. 

All except Two Socks - the youngest was the bravest of them all! We had a good laugh over that.

By this time we were all feeling hungry, so we hopped back into the cars and headed into town to the restaurant we always go to when we get together in West Lafayette - Mountain Jack's.

Good food, good friends, and an extra bonus of hugs and quick chats from two of my former students who were serving, and it was a lovely way to wrap up the day and kick off the weekend!