Herd dynamics n' horse clippings

This morning I woke up to find my husband had taken the day off ! First good surprise of the day. We walked to the barn, and he helped me feed/ turn out and then left me to get the stalls done while he re-did the electric tape we use as a sight "fence" for the wire fencing in one pasture. I got done in no time, due to it bein such great weather and my having taken two Tylenol before hand. Re-bedded a couple of stalls, dumped/ re-filled water buckets , hayed the empty stalls, and neatened up some. Mixed up dinner and put that in the empty stalls so all we have to do this evening is feed the drafters inside, and bring the long tails in for the night. Simple as can be - and pretty efficient too.

Since Annie the Percheron boarder is gone, I wanted to work on putting Scout ( paint boarder gelding) in with Scarlet & Alli, my two Appy mares. Ahhh a field Full of color - I love it ! I'd put him out w/ them once before so today was going to be fine, I hoped. Scoutie went out first, then Alli & Scarlet. Yesterday I was horsewatching and reveled in how much Scarlet protects the much older Alli. Alli turns 28 yrs old this spring and Scarlet is just 10 and they're both pretty good pals. Once their hay was pretty much done, Scarlet n' Alli wandered off to "graze" on the little bits of green grass trying to grow, and Scout finished up the yummy parts of the left over hay. Scout trotted up the hill to where the girls were and was trying to get them to move off - like a stallion might but he was no where near as agressive.... Alli trotted off because she wasn't quite sure about him being a n ice guy or not.. Scarlet however, trotted Between then, glowering at Scout and all but headed him off. He turned and she pinned her ears and postured big time as though to let him know to " LEAVE her pal ALONE !" He did and when it happened again- he was once again headed off by Scarlet who put herself in between the two. Scout tried to bully her and he got confronted with a threatening hind hoof flying towards him . She spent most of the day keeping Scout away from her bestest pal and letting Scout know he was Not allowed to pick on Alli what so ever. Things calmed down and life was good for the rest of the afternoon.

This morning- Scout, Alli n' Scarlet were out together. Scout tried to bully his way so he could gorge on all the sweet hay I had put out for all to enjoy. Scarlet was fine, so long as he left Alli alone- but the minute he trotted towards Scarlet's friend- she lifted her head up and came to defend Alli. It was so neat to witness ! Scout would give way as Scarlet meant business and he understood ALL to well.... I watched this all from the barn aisle as I was grooming Evie . Scarlet was bound and determined to protect her older friend who's blind in one eye. She would go over to Alli and check to be sure she was alright after placing herself between Alli n' Scout. Once Scout was being polite he was allowed to graze with 'the girls'. All is pretty peaceful now- and I imagine it will continue. I love being witness to horses being horses, can ya tell ?
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Evie had a morning at our beauty parlor- AKA- the barn. She got longed for abt 10 minutes and did much better than I expected. I'd not done anything with her in this manner in a couple of years due to her stifles causing 'growing pains'. This mare grew up and did it FAST ! She's 18 hands and one half inch now- and she turns four on Tuesday. She's soooooooooo elegant for one so large and is continuing to fill out so she actually looks like a well bred Percheron mare now. I like it ! For a while I was wondering if she was ever going to fill out and grow up. Evie hasn't had much of anything done to her all winter so she was a bit of a visual mess. Mohawk bridle path, a Long tangled mane, fuzzy feathers, and a thick drafter tail. UGH.- whatta mess. So after her longeing lesson, we walked to the barn and she had actually gotten a little sweaty due to winter coats being on and it being so warm here. Curried and vacuumed her winter hair off some which she loved immensely ! She then got her bridle path clipped with the Big noisy Sunbeam clippers - right down between her ears - she was beginning to look prettier. I used the little A-5's to get those winter whiskers off her jaw and trimmed the fuzzies from her ears too. WOW- what a difference that made. I am going to try to remember to take my camera up tonight to get some pics. Trimmed her feather some off her legs, and trimmed the backs of her pasturns so she'd look ready to go into a halter class - notttttttttttttttttt / hahahaaa. I pulled a ton of length off her mane , then thinned it some too. She looks Great - but for the raggedy winter coat still on her. It won't be long til that's gone too.


By that time, Glenn was all done re-doing the tape fence and came to see her. She almost posed for him- she was so pleased with all the attention ! So one down,4 to go concerning trims, etc. Scarlet got her day at the beauty parlor earlier and Alli got trimmed up a little too, Carli the Clyde got her mane pulled, bridle path trimmed as well this past week, so we're getting back to stunning again around here. I'm not,, but the girls are !