My Boy Monday

Where did all this water come from? It hasn't rained in days!

When I got to the Painted Creek on Sunday, I was pleasantly surprised. Paint Girl's other half had cleaned out the horse troughs! This is a big spring task for us and it was nice that the tanks were gleaming silver again. I guess I'll be baking him batches of thank-you brownies.......for the next two years.

Last weekend I bought My Boy a toy. A "busy ball." It is supposed to keep him, well-busy. You can see how well it is working:

Actually, I got a call on Saturday that he was spotted playing with it for the first time! It was evident by the dried goo on his muzzle today that he had indeed been attempting to get a taste of the corn, oats, and molasses treat. I was hoping to catch him playing with it yesterday and get some video or pictures. No such luck. My Boy was too busy nibbling on the green grass blades poking up in his pasture. He keeps the fence line nicely mowed.

I am recovering from a cold virus and didn't have the energy to ride. I decided to just turn My Boy out in the arena and free longe him. I took off his halter so we could work on "catching" in the arena. Different scenario than in his pasture, but catching and haltering still the same.

It was warm out and he was not feeling very energetic. I wanted to snap some pictures, but found that photographing my horse and motivating him at the same time was nothing short of hilarious. Picture me running around with a carrot stick in one hand, my Nikon in the other, making clucking sounds like a chicken. Let's just say it didn't help my runny nose nor my attempt at a mellow day with my horse. And every time I stopped to frame a picture, he stopped moving and faced up, too. It's kind of how he's trained when free longing.

My horse is always willing to stop. It's his favorite thing to do. Maybe that is why he was a reining horse?

As feeding time approaches, the horses are famous for their stare-downs. Paint Girl's mares give me the look.

There is nothing but hope in those eyes, I tell ya. If their thoughts could be verbalized, they'd be saying something like is it time, is it time, is it TIME???

Other than the fact the angle of this shot makes my horse's hiney and belly look incredibly huge, I had to laugh at his perked, expectant ears. I know exactly who he's watching! I drew a little arrow in to point out "the feed man" (Paint Girl's OH) coming out of the garage.

After we feed, Paint Girl, her OH, and I always watch the horses settle in and eat for a bit. I observed that the pasture mud had really dried out since last week. That flies were crawling across my horse's forehead (hatch fly predators, hatch!) That the late afternoon air still had a tint of warmth. That the neighborhood was filled with the sound of humming lawn mower engines.

I think that spring is finally here.