A Successful Outing

This is my new favorite picture of E Z and me.

For several reasons:

1) Look how shiny!

2) Isn't his tail so cute, laying on the grass like that?

3) Our green accessories are creating a trend. Like the grass.

4) Speaking of grass, check out that sneaky nom.

5) Donovan's ears are so cute.  Love ear pictures.

6) This is one of my favorite spots on the farm.  Such a pretty view, but not all that EZily accessible.

Photo credit goes to Steve, who came with Cathleen and I on a ride yesterday.  Here they are:

Adorableness abounds.

We were all over the group shots.  Here's Cathleen and I:

The sky looks so fancy.

And once we got back home, Donovan traded Steve for Mamalyn, to try out the new Western saddle and also to get all the Indian Pond Farm women together for yet another group shot.

Adorable.  And Donovan is the only non-sneaky-nommer.

The other exciting thing about this ride, in addition to the great group shots, was the river crossing.
E Z and I have been working on puddles and other bodies of water for awhile now.  He doesn't love them.  And we always get through the puddles and by the end of the ride he is fine with them, but we often have to start over again the next day.

And to get to that pretty view point, we have to cross a stream.  A stream that was pretty high for quite some time, because of the beaver population.  But the beavers all mysteriously disappeared; let's assume they went to a better place.  And now the river is nice and low.  But E Z still was not a fan.  He wouldn't go near it.  I walked him in and really only succeeded in testing out my waterproof boots (legitimately waterproof!).  We worked on going to the edge and just standing.  Then taking a single step forward, then just standing.  Then turning around when I asked.  I thought this would be a very long project.






But, I underestimated the momentum of the group.  With Dutchboy and Donovan both willing river crossers, E Z needed only a little encouragement and followed right along.








I didn't get a shot of us actually in the river, so you'll just have to take this as evidence enough.

We did it!

All in all, a successful outing!

Country Animals

EZ and co. had some more visitors this weekend.  Randi and Caroline made the trek from New York City to the Millbrook School Log Cabin for some fresh country air.  And gossip magazines.  Ooooh, and the zoo, where we were all captivated by these guys (all photo credits to Caroline):

Yup, high school with a zoo, no big deal.

Since in the country there is really nothing else to do than look at various animals, both exotic and farm, we also made a visit to both Indian Pond Farm and Broken Wheel Ranch.

Here is Caroline, both she and Donovan seeming awestruck with each other.

And here Randi and Dutch Boy seem equally delighted with each other's company. 

 Even more delighted here!  The horses are hoping that the proximity to the tack room door may indicate a possibilities for treats, and just working their charming magic on the lady from the boogie down.

"Yeah, ok, this is fun and all, but where are the treats?"

The tiny charmers were also out in full force.  Donker was not enjoying the rainy weather though.

Myma was totally digging her hay-filled burrow, however, only emerging at the ever promising possible presence of food.

Next we went next door to visit Mr EZdarlingdoo.

And to do some doctoring, because that's what we do when we go to Broken Wheel Ranch.

Some for the chest...

A little more on the eye...he loves it.  He actually is a very good patient, and I bribe him in between each dab.

The star of this visit though, had to be Rafter Cat.  Ask Randi and Caroline to sing you the song they composed in his (her?) honor.  It's a great jingle.

Here Randi is probably trying to get a better look at Rafter Cat.

The good thing about having visitors, other than that they are wonderful people whom I love, is that they take pictures of EZ and me, and we get to work on our glamor shots.

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?)