Why Not Nikker?: Sunday Driver....?

Abbi posing for me.

Kage charging up the trail

Today is Sunday...I don't work on Sunday at the shop. I do some shopping and then do farm stuff. Since its winter and there really wasn't much to do 'round here this afternoon, I decided to take my new camera Chad got me for Christmas out for a test drive. The dogs and I tootled around the farm snapping pictures of this and that. Then I put the camera away to move the horses feeder, get them fed, watered, and the isle way of the barn raked out. All of this was moving along at the normal pace for this place when all of the horses and mules...and donkeys went on "alert".

Horse Girl and Tari demonstrating the Alert pose.

Now when I say alert, what I mean is heads up, ears forward, chewing stopped, and tales out...ready to flag. I was dumping the hay from the isle in a pile when this happened. This can be caused by anything from the barn cat, a wild animal, someones loose horse, to a walker. As I walked back towards the barn someone blew hard and loud....must be serious....better get my fat butt to the barn....I may need my camera. It was starting to get dark and the fog was starting to form off the pond and stream so it took me a minute to figure out where they were looking and what I was seeing...especially through the camera lens.

This is not the initial charge...its the second.

Then there they were...the cray neighbor lady and her little Fjord....coming up the road, they were just at the bottom of the pasture and heading up the hill when I saw them. It looked like she was ground driving the mare up the road. Yes, it seemed pretty foolish seeing as how the road is ice covered and the freezing fog was moving in and making yet more ice...but over the years, I have seen this woman do some things that at 14 I knew weren't good ideas. So I found a place to watch the rodeo...'cause the herd had decided to make their first move on the intruder. I am not sure about anyone else's group of ponies, but here the norm is for the girls to do a half charge at the "boogie man" then halt and see what said boogie man is going to do in reaction to their show of force. Depending on the reaction of the "boogie man" they will either finish their charge to the fence or retreat to the barn. If they retreat, they regroup and try their half charge again. Its quite fun to watch some days!
One of the mules sounded the charge with a loud warning snort and everyone except Horse Girl, Becky Mule, and the donkeys lunged forward. Becky is too old to get riled up, she lets the "kids" handle this kind of stuff...Horse Girl was watching me and so were the Donkeys. I didn't seem worried, so the decided to stay and watch with me.

Note how far away she is from her horse in this and the above picture.

The half charge was effective. The boogie man bolted, and the crazy neighbor lady gave a jerk on the lead rope...yep I said lead rope. When I first saw her she behind the mare...so far behind her that I thought she was ground driving...nope, the mare was evidently leading her at that point. When the group charged the mare bolted and the crazy neighbor lady on the end of the rope was enough weight coupled with ample ice to send the mare down on her side. Seeing the boogie man on its side everyone charged the fence again. The mare scrambled to her feet, but lost her hind end and with the woman still behind her didn't have enough of her head to get momentum to keep from going down completely again. Everyone skidded to a halt at the fence as the mare made it to her feet and tried to flee...the "weight" at the end of the rope brought her down a third time. This time the mare as a bit slower getting up and the crazy neighbor lady was now in front of her horse and the mare got to her feet successfully. She decided to stand still and look at what was attacking her, this allowed the crazy neighbor lady caught her breath and regrouped also.
I thought shit...this could be interesting as the horses turned from the fence and ran back to where they had started. This action brought the mare into motion, but the crazy neighbor lady was able to circle the mare around her numerous times until the horse stopped moving without too much slipping and drama. The herd ran around me and the animals that didn't join in the first time and headed back to the crazy neighbor lady and her little Fjord. Tari and Fiona decided to hang out this pass, but when everyone came back a second time, they decided to go too.

Fiona buzzing Horse Girl

The land lord's big mules are a bit on the lazy side, and pretty nosey so they decided not to run any more and hang with the couple as the tried to make their way up the road...everyone else came back a third time and decided to grab a few bites to eat. I thought the party must be over with Scarlett and Missy baby sitting them and everyone else eating so I filled up my "hay wagon" and headed to the feeder. Unfortunately for the crazy neighbor lady and her horse, my movement spawned another stampede and retreat cycle. This time they all decide after the second pass of this cycle it may be fun to walk with her for a while. Her little horse jerked her off of her feet during one of these little stampedes, but she wasted no time in getting to her feet...which is probably a good thing as the horse more than likely would have bolted and either given her quite the ski trip on her belly or broke loose and made her way to the barn....and then I would have caught her and given her a hand. But in the big scheme of things, I figure this is her less than brilliant idea and my afternoon entertainment!

Jamison and Fiona

As they made their way to the top of the drive way they seemed to have things in order, and I thought good for her...she needs to get on down the road so I can call my sister and make fun of her. Yeah, make fun of her...not nice I know, but its what I do when someone does something so ridiculous and well dangerous (and survives of course). I tell you the way that horse was acting and the absolute lack of control she had on her, she should have been wearing her riding helmet. I didn't see the entire "trip" as I was feeding while watching and also trying to keep my stupid dog from joining in the free for all...he doesn't help when they are running...but boy does he think he does! But I am sure there were a few more spills for her than I actually saw.

Jamison, Fiona, Horse Girl

They lingered at the top of the drive way and then headed back down the hill toward their house. This little mare is an only child, so going home apparently isn't too appealing after she has been allowed to interact with the hellions on this place. She balked at first, but when the mules decided to go ahead and join her on the way back to her house she stepped right out thus putting her owner near her rear again. And again making it look like it was a poorly planned ground driving lesson. Unfortunately for the crazy neighbor lady the mare decided that she needed a wee smooch from the mules and when she did get in a better position for leading, the mare swung into her and nearly knocked her to the ground trying to reach out and touch someone. This happened twice, before she decided that maybe she should lead on the off side so she wasn't in harms way when the mare decided to hang a hard left without using her turn signal. So down the hill they went...horse leading owner, owner trying desperately to hang on and then finally....They were gone and I could call Mindy....this isn't the first time I have called my sister to give her the idiot neighbor report. Most of them are just as eventful. I wonder some days if she is learning from her mistakes...does she have rope burns....does she tell anyone about what goes on when she takes this horse out? Hmmmm....

The donkeys decide to get involved

Now some of you are saying why don't you help her...I have many reasons for that. 1) I don't offer help without being asked. I don't like it done to me and I don't do it to other people. 2) I am not a horse trainer...I have horses and have had them all of my life...and I go to clinics...so I know some stuff...but not everything and whats right for me may not work for her. 3) We live on "The Ranch" and in our neighborhood that makes us substandard to everyone. One neighbor has just started talking to me after 7 years out here...the others will wave if I wave first....what ever...so this lady looks down on us and although not spoken its very apparent. 4) She is older than I am and its hard for me to "tell" or show my peers things I "think" I know. 5) She is a junior high principal and by God she knows it all. ( I have talked to her, and its always her telling me stuff...I smile nod and think....MEMO TO NIKKI: stay the hell away from this woman next time!)

Fiona buzzing me...look at all those bad baby needs discipline bite marks on her!

So that was my Sunday afternoon...hope you are able to see her in some of the pictures I have posted...she and her horse do look "out of order" in most of them...you do have to look sort of hard to see her in a few of them though.