Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Early mornings

The air was luxeriously cooler this morning when I went out to feed the horses. I believe we are hovering somewhere around 60 degrees, which I think is a perfect temperature for riding. There is very little bug activity to bother the horses and neither one of us end up covered in sweat. I've started Johny an 1/2 gram of bute in preparation for the upcoming horse show this weekend. The day we are showing is unrated, so having a little bute in his system wont be a problem. He's going to be doing quite a bit of jumping at the horse show, so early management of his front legs is essential to keeping him comfortable.

I was throwing hay in the stalls this morning when I saw two little ears prick up over the window of Emmy's stall. It was, of coarse, Emmy and her little fox ears peeking in the window to say good morning. When I told her hello she lifted her face and nickered her usual greeting. The horses spend the night outside in the summer because the night air is always so much cooler, so when I finally opened the back doors, seven sleepy horses ambled inside. Johnny was surprisingly among the first to come in. Him and Emmy usually hang around near the back of the group and wait their turns, but this time only Emmy was left standing outside. When I went to get her, she was turned facing up the hill and watching the trees at the far end of the pasture. I called her name and she shook her head and trotted in. Breakfast was its usual chaos (usually caused by Emmy) with the banging of buckets and the excitement of hungry horses. Each horse has their own little quirk when they are hungry. Johnny turns his head sideways and slaps his lips together, Mandie the haflinger just stands and stares, still as a stone at the feed room, Emmy looks like she's having a seizure with her ears...they flick forwards and backwards then forwards and backwards until she sees her breakfast coming, at which point they stick straight forward and she starts to drool and nicker a low "ho ho ho" until you open her stall door. Mike the pony wiggles his lips back and forth and pretends like he's chewing, the donkey sticks his tongue out and Doug, the other standardbred, tries to whinny and just ends up sounding like he's blowing air out of his throat. It's very funny to watch them all...like being at a circus of one-trick ponies.

The horses will sleep until about noon, at which point I will probably head off to go ride Johnny. We are working on his right lead canter some more today. I will let everyone know how that goes.

Peace.Love.Ponies

No comments:

Post a Comment