December Already?

How can it be December already? I see all kinds of Christmas lights up and I still have fall decorations!

Saturday morning we pushed round bales in to the big herd. They were more than willing to chow down on the bales once we let them go. I opened the barn door and let whoever came up to the barn in to stand instead of haltering and tying the others. Dude, King, Chaos, and Jim all went into the barn. When I let them out, they all went galloping around the pen.

It’s so much fun watching the herd run, buck, rear, and enjoy themselves. King is usually so poky slow but he was bucking and rearing straight up at one point. Guess he was feeling his oats. Maverick would grab a bite and then run around trying to stir up more commotion. I think he’s really bored.

But we’ll have the fix for that soon. I’m either using Chaos or Maverick for the second drill team I’m on. This way we will no doubt represent rescue horses. I’d rather take Chaos because he’s prettier (sorry Maverick). But Maverick really needs a job. Tonight I’m hauling both boys to an indoor arena and riding around to see who will be the best fit.  I have a sneaky suspicion of who it’ll be but I’ll wait and see if I’m right or not.

Babe is doing much better. She still has the infection but it’s slowly healing. She’s been such a trooper through the entire experience. I’m so glad my fears were false in thinking she was going to need her eye removed. I guess I’m always thinking the worst case scenario so that if it ever does happen, I’m not caught by surprise.

 I really think Bo is back to normal. Yesterday I loaded Zeke up for the Hartford Parade of Lights. Bo went ballistic. He trotted back and forth in his pen and he never took a wrong step; he never once indicated that his leg or shoulder or backend was weak. In fact, at one point, he let out a pretty fierce kick with both back legs. I don’t know that we’ll ever know for sure what was wrong with him. I still want to keep him in the hospital ward for now. I want to make sure that he won’t regress. If we give him another month of rest maybe then I will put him in with the big herd. I prefer that he have 24/7 access to hay, which he does and Babe much prefers his company as long as it’s on the other side of the pen. She knows that Bo is near but not with her. She put her nose through the top rung of the corral panel to try and coax Bo over.  They will eat nose to nose in the round bale. Babe still lets out a squeal every once in a while if Bo does something she doesn’t like. While we were loading Zeke, Bo kept running back and forth whinnying. That in turn would upset Babe and get her whinnying. It was almost a three ring circus by the time we left.

 This morning when I walked out to do chores, the weather was actually warm. It felt like a storm was coming but I know better. There’s not even any talk of a storm until possibly the end of the week. Just the other day we had that same feeling where I would have sworn a storm was coming but instead it was a cloudy day and nothing more.  Usually we put up a snow fence to block the snow from coming up the driveway. We haven’t put it up yet and I’m beginning to wonder if we should even bother with it. I’m not complaining about not having snow but we are in desperate need of some moisture. I prefer to not drive on snow and ice but if we could get some warm rain that would be wonderful.

I’m not sure how much blogging I’ll do this week. We are busy with drill team practices and that’s about it. Nothing too exciting (knock on wood). If you happen to have any yearling or pony halters, Gentle Spirits Horse Rescue and Sanctuary is collecting. They will be shipping off a box of halters to help in the rescue efforts that are currently underway in southern Minnesota. I don’t have all the details in front of me but it’s a large undertaking by one rescue with many emaciated horses. If I remember right, there were a total of 58 animals removed from the property. But I don’t have all the facts. If you want me to post more, just let me know and I’ll find out all the information and post.