Discoveries in the Dark

Lisa sent me this picture last night. Guess whose backside this is? 

That's Hokey, and he is scratching his backside so hard against the gate that he loosened the post the gate is attached to and bent the bars of the gate as well! (You can see the top bar is bent upward.)

Lisa was concerned, and rightly so, that Trouble and Hokey could get loose, so she called me and I went out in the dark to check the fence. After a phone conversation with Tim, we decided the gate repair could wait until morning.

But Lisa had also noticed something else before I arrived - she had counted noses and could not find Mason. She asked me if I knew if he had been sold; I didn't, so I texted Tim to find out - a missing horse can be an emergency.

 I had to laugh at his observation that he would not want to steal a horse with her around.

I was not overly attached to Mason, but Lisa was very fond of him. (Okay, let's be honest. She's fond of every horse at the barn!) He liked to follow her around the pasture and be skritched. Here she gives him a kiss on the nose as she was petting a barn cat. He was plodding along beside her, and when she stopped and bent over, he put his face right up to hers.

That puts us at six horses, although if Dolly is in foal, that's six and a half. Time will tell on that one!

At the Gate

I love this picture of Mason - he's very much a loner, and usually all by himself on one side of the barn. Today when I came out to fill the tough and check the herd, he came over to say "hello."

September Afternoon

Today is a cold and rainy fall day. The kind of day you hanker for hot chocolate. I spent much of the day cleaning, doing laundry, sorting clothes for the seasonal change, and organizing things around our home.

I came across these two pictures taken on a beautiful September afternoon, and they took the chill off this October day!

Abby cocks an ear, keeping an eye on Mason as he shares the trough with her.

A very unusual picture - Mason and Hokey buddied up! Mason is the low man on the totem pole now that Yukon has gone to a new home. Normally Mason keeps his distance from everyone but Abby, so when I saw the two of them hanging out by the gate, I grabbed my camera and started snapping.

Warm, sunny weather seems so far away!

Light Horsekeeping

Looks like I need to dust the fences! Mason stepped up to the fence this afternoon and the contrast of his black hair with the silken threads of the cobweb made it stand out.

So, just how DO you dust a fence?? (Actually, Mason took care of it with his tail!)

"Today's Pictures"

When I got home this evening, I saw my neighbor, Lynn Wood, on the sidewalk and stopped to chat with her for a while. She asked how my horses were, and having just been out to the barn, I responded, "Would you like to see today's pictures?"

Lynn got the giggles at what I'd said. I realized that I must've sounded like a new mom who is taking multitudes of photos of her little one. We laughed together, and then we looked at these pictures.

 As I drove down the lane to the barn, I noticed these beautiful morning glories climbing up one of the fence posts.

 Hokey is always interested in what is going on. Love this boy!

 For some reason, the llamas in the next pasture over were very interested in what the herd was doing this afternoon.

Mason gave me a hopeful look as I rolled down the lane after my visit.

I took a video of Abby trotting up from the west pasture to see me, but it is too big to upload.

More Shadow Play

Tonight I was hanging out at the round feeder as Abby munched on her hay. We hung out in companionable silence; she'd pull out some hay, munch it, then pull out some more and continue eating. Occasionally she would put her head up and check on what I was doing, then go back to eating. 

I noticed we again had some interesting shadows and so I began snapping.

 Abby raises her head and gently nudges me with her nose.

 Look! A two-headed horse!

Abby's still in the picture (that's her neck and head shadow angling down into the feeder on the bottom left) but the horse head shadow you see touching my head is Mason. He came over to see what was up.

Loose Lipped Mason

Mason is one of three black horses at the ranch. He's #7 in the herd order, ahead only of Yukon. Now that Dolly, Thunderbolt, and Yukon are out at Williamsport to give the ranch's pastures some relief, Mason and Abby have been palling around and I have gotten to know him better.

He's a very observant little guy, and if I don't call or whistle when I arrive, often he's the first to notice I'm there. He's quiet and gentle, and enjoys human company.

One thing that always makes me smile about him is a trait he shares with Nick, a horse I owned as a young girl - loose lips! (Kind of funny, too, that Nick was white, the opposite of Mason's color.)

 Look at that lower lip dangle - you can even see the inside of the lip.

 While standing at the fence... it hangs.

 This profile picture shows it practically flapping in the breeze! 

It's so loose, it hangs down and in front of his upper lip.

A little hard to see, but it's really loose here. 

Sometimes you can even see the spots that he has on the inside of that bottom lip!

Summertime! And the Livin's Ea-asy!

Since I've been in Iowa for the long weekend, I had not done a carrot run since Saturday morning. Needless to say, I was anxious to check on my pony and her pals when I finished my very last day at Hershey before summer break. So, before going home, I headed out to the barn.

To my surprise, Yukon, Mason, and Diablo had been put into the small pasture by the lane leading up to the barn. It has belly-deep grass that's been waving in the breeze invitingly for some time. I'd wondered what plans Tim had for it. Now I know. It's the perfect place for the three quietest, gentlest members of the herd.

The picture doesn't do the horses justice - their coats are sooooo shiny and healthy. They gleam in the sunlight. And Yukon has really filled out, although he could stand to gain a few more pounds.

As I stood watching the three buddies out there, tails swishing, munching on long-stemmed grass on a warm summer afternoon, all I could think of was....

Bring on summer!