Best Gelding Herd in the World

I have the best gelding herd in the world! In years past, when I would walk out into the pasture, the gelding herd would scatter. Not any more. Now, they come right up to me (or passed me to the drylot) even with no incentive like grain or treats.

Last night the farrier was out to trim Tommy, Skippy, King., and Rain. I didn't get the chance to pull King before the farrier showed up so I had to scurry out and catch King. What do you know, he's at the far corner of the pasture passed the little creek. I have been too tired to walk down and check on the little creek to see if it's dried up or still a muddy mess. I think it's dry based on the clean hooves that ran through it.

It took less than five minutes of hollering for the boys before they decided to come and see what I was up to. I'll definitely say it is a little unnerving to have ten horses galloping up a hill right at you. At one point, I thought Dude was going to run me over. But my boys know better and swerved at the last minute. I swear they like playing chicken with me. Problem is, I don't budge. I am Boss Mare. If you want something, you'll have to go around me. If I want something, you'll have to move.

Because King is so fat, he stopped loping up the hill half way and just trotted passed me. I wasn't sure if I would be able to catch him but he was pretty good. His only concern was someone coming up behind him and biting him in the butt (that darn Maverick).

By the time the farrier was done with King, half the herd was back out into the pasture. So we missed out on trimming Zeke but we'll catch him next week along with Maverick. We need to schedule an appointment with the chute and the farrier to get Thor trimmed up.

After the farrier left and I had some time out of the sun, I headed back out to do chores. I figured I would have a hard time getting the big herd to come back in after having them come up earlier in the evening. Zeke and Maverick were already and up and Dude was on his way. I was able to coax everyone back in even without grain or hay. I really do have the best gelding herd in the world. No treats, no grain, no incentive other than a pat on the nose and a "hello and good evening" to each one.

I had just enough daylight after going back out to do chores to worm everyone too. I'm so far behind. I should have done it months ago but it took until last night. So now we are at least caught up on that aspect. Everyone was really good except for Bo. Bo really worked me over trying to worm him. Whoever had him before really mentally screwed him up. He's not headshy until you go to messing with his mouth. Bridling him is an effort and giving him wormer is a workout. I can give him a hug and a kiss on the nose and he's perfectly fine. I guess it's another thing I'll have to work on. The others that I thought would give me problems didn't. We'll see what happens the next time though.

I've also realized that I have the craziest filly in the world. I've been letting Queen, Rabbit, and Mayhem graze by the red shed. Wouldn't you know, that darn Mayhem would rather eat hay from the round bales or the hay I toss for evening meals rather than the grass. Here she has all the grass she could possibly eat and she'd rather eat hay. I'm planning on putting those three out on pasture this weekend so I wont' have to throw any more hay to them. I'm still working the ponies up to it but I have to be brave and actually leave the ponies out on the lawn for a day with electric on before I feel comfortable. I need to do that during a weekend so I can keep an eye on them.

It's supposed to be a scorcher this weekend. Hopefully Rain is smart enough to get in out of the sun for a little while. I still worry about him. We had him trimmed last night and the sweat was starting to pour off of him and it wasn't that bad. He will always be more senstive to heat. I expect he had heat stroke at one point. Now that we are in summer with temps in the 80s, he'll be "on leave" and not be ridden until the temps drop down to the 70s for the highs. I am thinking of ordering him a flysheet to see if the sunlight would reflect off the white sheet rather than be soaked into his black coat. I'm willing to try anything to keep him comfortable. My only hope is that no one demolishes the sheet. The other night we threw a blanket on Queen because she was wet and cold. She managed to demolish that good blanket. I'm not sure it's even repairable. I've discovered I can't have anything nice. I'm going to have to go through the different tubs and take an inventory to see what blankets and sheets we have left and who needs what. Always money going out and always no money coming in. I guess that's what happens when you take care of horses!