...strikes again!! Chad's paint mare has been snorty the last couple of days. But she has this issue with routine. She craves it, loves it, and then begins anticipating it. Sometimes she begins anticipating it to the point that she gets herself all worked up. So last night when she wouldn't let Fiona settle in and eat her grain, I separated them and she paced and ate, paced and ate. Fiona ate happily and didn't miss Horse Girl one bit. I thought Horse Girl had started her routine anxiety thing again and it was time to shake it up.
So tonight I come home with a plan. Separate all of them for their grain. Leaving Horse Girl in the pasture, putting Fi and Tari in the stalls and then returning them all together in the end. On my way to feed I decide I should start the car, as it is still stuck where I left it on Wednesday. Its been below zero and will be again a couple of times this weekend (guess that makes it all weekend), so it can't hurt to run it. I fired it up and while leaving the poor little car, noticed that there were hoof tracks in the snow right next to it. Not horse hooves, not donkey hooves. But cloven hooves. Just one set. They are either a large elk or a small moose. I had stepped on the good ones before I noticed them. The weren't running hooves. I could tell this because the toes weren't spread, they were close together. And there were no dew claw marks if it were a male animal charging through the area there would be two small poke marks behind each set of hooves. Funny I thought. Some wild animal wondering through the place inches from the car. Hope its not bedding down near here...but then again that could explain why Horse Girls being a dork. She doesn't like sleep overs...
I went on to dish up the grain, load my Danger with the hay and Horses' grain and called Fiona. Fiona knows her name, loves her name, and comes when ever she hears it. Just after I called Fi, Mindy called. I chat with Mindy and call my horses yet again. Nothing, I tell my sister how odd it is that the girls weren't coming. I grab the halter and keep talking while I walk. I follow the well used trails to where the hide in the trees...and spy on the house. I follow their trails right to the end. Now, Mindy and I are having heat attacks. I have no horses. And if I'm missing one, so is she! OMG!! Now there are tracks heading farther down the fence line, but they are not on a normal well used trail. They are scattered and random. The snow is deeper here because none of us go here...no real reason. Lovely, up to my knees.
Poor Mindy has to listen to me huff and puff as I walk down the fence line looking for the girls. As the far corner becomes visible to me in the fading light, so does that load overo mare! Thank God. Mindy and I both breath a sigh of relief as the two "darkies" round the corner behind her. I let them approach me and say hello to each one. Horse Girl is on high alert and acting like maybe the animal that was here tried to kidnap her. Then I notice she has dried sweat on her chest, neck, and flanks. So does Fiona, and our Baby Momma. Not cool, because it wasn't a warm day today...warmest I saw it was 16... My girls shouldn't be sweating in this weather!! I got them caught up, but they were all wound up enough that they weren't all that interested in their grain. Fi was also a little sucked up in the flanks. Although they all showed signs of running around like loons, all were fully intact and no worse for wear.
So I hung out with them until most of their grain was gone and then poured it out on the hay in the pasture. When I left them everyone was quite. When Chad rolled in they were still eating. I told Kage he may have to go out and bark his fool head off later this evening. He said no problemo!! When we lived at "The Ranch" I really whined about how the mules were a pain in the a$$. They were for the most part poorly bred, poorly trained, and Becky was the only one worth the time of day. But they kept everything out of the pasture and gave the horses (and me) a sense of security from all of the things that go bump in the night or broad daylight for that matter. So in a case like this, I miss the long eared freaks! I told Chad we need a mule. One that doesn't suck. Oh, and I don't want to pay anything for it.... Doubt there is one of those out there. But if I find one, I think I'll bring it home. Doesn't have to do anyting but keep my all Heart Attacks On The Hoof safe and happy. Oh, and allow its feet to be done, take its wormer, vaccines, and not be a total a$$ all the time. Hell, it doesn't even have to be completely sound for that matter... ( o:
Man I hope that the first day/evening of 2011 is quieter than the last of 2010!!
Happy New Year Everybody!!
No comments:
Post a Comment