Special Guest Appearance

Kathleen came to visit Indian Pond farm!  After bounding out and hugging her I dragged her up to the menagerie, where she and Donovan fell immediately in love and I was totally ignored for the rest of her time here.  Just kidding!
Since our time together at the Bitterroot, where she left in October, Kathleen has sorely been missing pony time.  And I have been missing her, so this was a perfect opportunity to tempt her to my lair.  Or farm, whichever term you prefer. 

This is Kathleen's talking-to-animals face.  No one (thing?) has an immunity to it.

I had cleared going to the indoor, but it was real cold and mom was freaked out about snowplows on the road and killer drifts and whatnot, so we just went on a little jaunt down to the lake.

So weird/natural to be riding.  So weird/natural to be chilling together outside of Dubois, Wyoming.

Aren't they both the cutest things you've ever seen?  This is in fact all we could say the entire time all this was taking place.  "This is the cutest thing ever."  And it really was.  Big D was a little bit spicy after going a few months without an outing, but Wrangler Kathleen was delighted with him.  Or so she said--I was too busy paying attention to what an angel EZhardcoldcash was to really pay to much attention to them.

Because EZ and I are supercute too.  Let's all give mad props to the O'Halloran designed quarter sheets!  We are so fancy.  And cozy.

Bitterroot baby Arabians have trained Kathleen to beware of every potentially scary/hazardous thing, which has weirdly in turn created a person who spooks like an Arabian would, but D and EZ eventually convinced her that the occasional flapping quarter sheet wouldn't kill anyone.

We are totally roaming our winter wonderland.

Fun with blurriness really starts to set in here.  So picturesque, yet unfocused...

Then clear, but apparently catching a moment that's not, actually, blissful?  

Liz tried to help us out once we got home, and took like a million pictures until her fingers froze, but again, there's a mixture of blurriness or bunk faces.

All in all though, it was a smashing success, and both Donovan and I will miss Kathleen until she visits again!  (Maybe when it's warm though?)

Snow Ponies

I went to bed last night wondering what would await me this morning.  The horses were being idiots, and I totally blame Donovan.  After the cow extravanganza when I went to check them they were all the way out in Timbuktu, in the driving wind and snow.  I caught Donovan and he led all of them down to the barns, where I fixed his blanket and generally reminded them all that we did have barns now, that we worked very hard to obtain for them, so they should use them and love them and stay warm.  Then I let Donovan go and he immediately galloped back to Timbuktu, with everyone following on his heels, including Donker, although you could tell he resented it.  Ridiculous!  So I trudged back, caught D again, and closed him in the stall, with the goats who had smartly scampered in.  The others, loyal to the end, milled around outside, without going to the other barn even when I fed them treats, but at least they were out of the wind.  A few hours later I let D out, and away they went again.  Oh well, I tried.

Then this morning we woke up to this:

Yeah, snow!  It was mostly done coming down, but the wind was still blowing.

Blowing so strongly, in fact, that it had created convenient drifts right up against the barns.

Can you see the poor, aggrieved goatie faces?

Donker had obviously had enough of the ridiculous horse behavior and had joined the goats, although they were none so happy where they were either.

I shoveled them out, checked on Myma (very unimpressed), and started on the other barn.

Please take note of how the ground in front of the barn is blown completely bare--it's only actually in the barn that there is snow.  Obvious design flaw.

Since the goats and donkey had been freed, they went to get the others where ever they had spent the night, and they appeared from the whiteout, with Big D leading the way (obvies).

I don't know where D had decided it would be best to weather the snow, and I see his point about the barns, but still, evidently they had their own drifts to deal with.

Look at their poor snow faces!  It's most obvious on EZ, given his lustrous black coat (isn't he beautiful?), but they all were covered in snow and ice.  Poor things.

 

This is a snowy Donovan nostril, in case there was confusion.

I fed everybody and brushed everybody and removed their iceballs, then put on some cozy little neck covers since it's still windy and obviously they're not so into the barns.  I wanted the warmest one for Dutchie, because he is most elderly, but it wasn't the one that matched his coat, so they are all mismatching and clashing, but I figured they wouldn't really mind so much since you can't see for all the snow anyway.

Dad scraped out most of the drifts with the tractor and I shoveled out most of the rest of the snow, and all creatures were actually seen to be using the barns, so there's that.

I gave Myma some more hay and distracted her with half a loaf of stale bread and achieved this:

Which may or may not be the cutest thing ever (after Donker) (sorry Myma).  She didn't love it though, and when I went back to check a few hours later she had wriggled out of it. 

In conclusion, snowy days leave no one comfortable.  They're all ok though, and that's what matters most, and hopefully tomorrow we'll have less gale-force breezes.

Small Animals Being Cute

 I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but there are some cute small animals hanging around here.

How adorable is Donker in his coat?  Very, I know.

And then there are the goats.  They are everywhere.

In igloos....

 outside of igloos....

 in haybales....

that Donker's trying to eat from...

Before this evening's snowstorm mom and I put blankets on the goats too.  They were actually dog blankets and rather ill-fitting, and when I went up to check after it actually was snowing they had wriggled out of them, so they won't be as cute as Donker.  We also tried to put a blanket on Myma, but that REALLY wasn't happening, so they all will be cold.  And cute.

And this is also cute: an Interminable Donovan and Petey video.  It's so long, because their interaction went on so long.  I never did figure out what either of them wanted, but it's clear they are besties. (If you pay careful attention, you can hear a faint Donker hee-haw when Donovan turns to look, as well as Dukey's barking and prancing, as well of course as my brilliant narration.  Then you get a gold star.)

Cows out all over the place

It started really snowing a few hours ago, with really comfortable driving wind.  This was an appropriate time for the cows to let us know that they were out.

The trusty bouviers sounded the alert that these characters were out for a stroll.

Wait, so we're not supposed to be out here?

We better get out of here, here comes the wrangler!

And with that they happily trotted up to the barn, where I shut the gate behind them.  And then I counted, and joining the one that had obediently stayed where she was supposed to (agoraphobic?  Bouviephobic?), that meant that there were only four.  I went back to the house to check with dad that there were indeed supposed to be ten total and that he hadn't in fact put six up in the Hilton for the winter (should've known--Millerton does not have a Hilton).    I didn't really trust my counting skills in the low visibility, plus I hadn't had my contacts in, so Liz and I went back to check.  Yup, definitely only four.


We looked really hard, but  we couldn't find any hoofprints (or, you know, actual cows) indicating where the other six had absconded to.

Liz looking hard for cows

but the road seemed empty.

so I took a picture of us, in which it looks like I have no jaw.

Dad was patrolling in the truck and we heard honking from down the road.  He and mom followed the trail, where our neighbors had pushed the naughty six into a field behind the house.  I kept getting in the way because I wanted to take pictures.

You can't tell, but you'll have to trust me that those truck lights are shining over six up-to-no-good heifers.  

I really tried to document this momentous occasion, but I was late opening the gate and my camera was freezing.  Just trust me, it was big doings around here, but all are safe and sound, don't you worry.

Winter riding?

So it's cold out.  I was prepared for this and have in my possession some awesome winter-wear which makes it not so depressing.  Who cares if it's freaking freezing if you get to wear a cute hat?!

With the frigid air though comes the frozen ground.  Which means that my fancy ring isn't so hot to ride in.  The whole outside world isn't so hot to ride in (because it's cold!  Oh ha).  Believe it or not, I did have a suspicion that winter would occur and have been thinking about how to ride the dear sweet ponyface.  I can go on walking hacks, and we've been doing those.  Before it was so snowy, we visited the geese down at the lake.

You can't really see them, they're pretty far away by now, which is how EZ likes them.

But even walking is hard on the rutted fields, and, sorry to say, gets a little monotonous.  So, I was thinking of boarding somewhere for about a month.  With my really rich bank account I thought I could swing it, and since I wasn't coaching, I would have time to ride in the afternoons and maybe get some lessons in.

About that "not coaching" thing: Millbrook didn't have anyone to take the 6 kids who were riding at Kildare over the winter to the barn, and were looking for someone to do it for some extra cash.  My scheming mind saw some potential--I could use that cash to pay for board, and maybe even at Kildare. It is super close to school,  I'd be going there anyway with the kids three days a week, the little jumps we do with them would be perfect for me and EZ.  I wanted to confirm with Kildare that this would be possible before I committed myself to the job, to be sure I would have enough time for EZ.  But, I didn't.  It's still unclear that they will have room, and I'm still unsure that I want to pay such a vast amount of cashola, even with the infusion from the extra coaching duty, but because I am at the core a selfless educator, I signed on nonetheless.  Thanks for all the back-patting.  Since the kids are not doing the volunteering gig we did in the fall and probably will do in the spring, the time commitment is only a few days a week, and I do think it's important to have some continuity in the program and in communications between the school and the barn; I'd like to see the program develop somehow more substantially, still not sure what that will be, but figure I should be around to figure it out.

In the meantime, a farm down the road from our own Indian Pond Farm has an indoor!  (Cue enthusiastic and relieved applause!)  Broken Wheel Ranch is about a 12 minute ride from Indian Pond Farm, Liz and I used to ride our horses there for 4H.  Good times.  Now the owner lets people use her new indoor for $10 an hour.

Pretty nice, right?  It's legit.  EZ and I have gone over there a few times now, and he loves it.  Not really, it makes him nervous riding up to the farm with all the strange horses around and he starts to sweat.  And that cart in there seems highly suspicious.  But I love it, and he will too. 

"Argh, this creepy indoor is making me sweat!  And speak Pirate!"

Margaret, the owner, thinks all the riding over and around in the freezing cold is a little craycray, and suggested we could figure something out to keep EZ there.  I don't really mind the craycray freezing hack over, (although the way back, when EZ boy is all sweaty and in the frigid wind, makes me uncomfortable for him.  I rub him down with a towel and think I will employ Cathleen's lapcover/quarter sheet in the future) but once I'm back at school, being the selfless educator, it will be hard to do it in the afternoon before it gets dark.  So, keeping him there for maybe the month of January or so might be another good option.  And I won't have to pay my whole paycheck?  Compared to Kildare it will lack the convenience of being close to school/being paid to go there anyway, and also the instruction and jumping.  But it will be right down the street from the herd, as well as being much more sane pricewise, and EZmoneybucks will already be somewhat accustomed to it.  Hopefully less sweaty eventually too.  Although I might have to do some clipping for that to be totally the case.

Anyway, moral of the story, this is why people move themselves and their EZ's to Florida for the winter.

This is not a horse...

But how can you resist?  Maybe I should change the blog title to making creepy-cat-lady dreams a reality?

Scamp has a fascination with the bathroom. (not "going to" the bathroom, just the actual physical space.  Don't be so gross.)  I think it starts with the water.  He really prefers running water to still.  If pressed, he will drink from a bowl, but he'd really rather not to have to deign to do so.  He'd rather lap from this faucet and then choke on the water and make me real nervous that he's either going to die or cough up something really nasty.  Anyway, I think he wanders in to check if there's currently a fountain for him, and then gets distracted and takes a nap.

Then he's all, "Bring me water now, you fool!"  No, he was actually yawning.  Freaky.

 Then he takes this party to the shower, obviously, to try to figure out where all those goshdarn drops are coming from.

 No, seriously.  Where are they coming from.

So cute.

Large Dog Comes to Visit

 Uncle Neil's Great Pyrenees, Duke, was wandering around the paddock the other day.  He wanted to play, but the others were skeptical. It was adorable.

 Dukie goes to check the scene.

Petey is unimpressed.

Everyone thought it would be best to just get a little grazing in.

 Including the...mutant horse!

It looks like EZ is interested in both Dukie and my shadow.

Duke tries to work up a little enthusiasm from the crowed.

 Goats remain unimpressed.

How can they resist?!

So Dukie tries his luck with Donker, who wants none of it.

Donovan asks, What are you doing to us?

And then looks skeptically at the action.

Maybe Dutchie will be more receptive to play time?

Nope, they all just continue their skepticism, including Donker's ears.

Sorry, Dukie, better luck next time!