Welcome to the Playground

The farrier was scheduled to come on Thursday. Since the weather was nice and the front paddock was partly melted I decided to let Grace out to play. Figured if we were gonna try and get her hoofs done it might help if she was tired. So I put her in the stall next to Cleo and opened the door. After about 5 minutes of just looking out, she got super brave and put her front hooves out on the ground - of course she managed to lean backwards so that only her feet were visible outside the door. Finally about 10 minutes later she decided to take the plunge and fully step out the door. Once out the door she found some ledge. It took her quite a while to figure out that rocks aren't really all that good to eat - snow on the other hand is. Anytime a car would go by or something would happen she'd bolt back into the stall. Here she is on her maiden voyage.















Later on, Rick showed up to shoe Cleo - no problems there. Then we decided we'd try Grace and see what happens. I've been working with her on picking out her hoofs. She's been really good about her front hoofs and her back left but for some reason when I try to pick her back right hoof she puts all her weight on that foot. That makes it really hard to get it done. So I was mentioning that to Rick and he told me that horses can be the horse equivalent of right or left handed and that was probably the reason. So we decided to trim her hoofs in her stall figuring that's where she'd be most comfortable. We weren't going to worry about doing a really good job, rather we were treating this like a child's first haircut - get in and out and make it a pleasant experience for her. Front hoofs - no problem. Back left hoof - no problem. Back right hoof, well after one false start she got it together and stood very quietly. Chalk one up for Grace, she was really good.

Today it was super nice out (about 45 degrees) so I decided I'd let Grace out for a while and then bring her in and turn Cleo out. Stacy suggested rather than swap I just let Cleo out with Grace. What's the worst thing that could happen? Well lets not go there. So I turned Cleo out and of course she goes right out and Grace comes trotting over all happy like. Bing - alpha mare alert! Cleo spins on a dime, pins the ears back and launches a few kicks into Grace's general direction. Grace was smart enough to give her a bit of space but also kept coming back for more. Once it became apparent that Grace was starting to know her place in the pecking order, kicking turned to nipping. After about a half hour of that, everyone knew their place and the two of them were chumming around. Wherever Cleo would go Grace would be sure to follow.
















Later on this afternoon I look out and see Cleo laying down and Grace resting her head on Cleo's body. I wasn't able to get that on camera but here's another from about the same time.
















Late this afternoon when I was going to clean stalls I noticed ....

















Yup, thats both of them in Cleo's stall. Since the water bucket was empty I figured I'd fill it up for them. As soon as Cleo started drinking from the 5 gallon bucket, Grace tried to wedge her nose into the bucket too. She did get it part way in before Cleo gave her a nip on the neck for her trouble. Then they took turns drinking from the bucket (after Cleo had her fill - its good to be alpha). Since I wanted to clean Cleo's stall, I kicked them both back outside and when I came back into the barn, they were in the stall next to Cleo and one of them (most likely Grace since she does this sometime) closed the door. Neither seemed to mind so I guess they're now officially buddies.

I came across the following on the Matt Hughes blog the other day and thought it was worth sharing. (No credit was given for the author)

STONE

TWO FRIENDS WERE WALKING
THROUGH THE DESERT.
DURING SOME POINT OF THE
JOURNEY, THEY HAD AN
ARGUMENT; AND ONE FRIEND
SLAPPED THE OTHER ONE
IN THE FACE

THE ONE WHO GOT SLAPPED
WAS HURT, BUT WITHOUT
SAYING ANYTHING,
WROTE IN THE SAND,

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND
SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.

THEY KEPT ON WALKING,
UNTIL THEY FOUND AN OASIS,
WHERE THEY DECIDED
TO TAKE A BATH .

THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN
SLAPPED GOT STUCK IN THE
MIRE AND STARTED DROWNING,
BUT THE FRIEND SAVED HIM.

AFTER HE RECOVERED FROM
THE NEAR DROWNING,
HE WROTE ON A STONE:

“TODAY MY BEST FRIEND
SAVED MY LIFE”

THE FRIEND WHO HAD SLAPPED
AND SAVED HIS BEST FRIEND
ASKED HIM, “AFTER I HURT YOU,
YOU WROTE IN THE SAND AND NOW,
YOU WRITE ON A STONE, WHY?”

THE FRIEND REPLIED
“WHEN SOMEONE HURTS US
WE SHOULD WRITE IT DOWN
IN SAND, WHERE WINDS OF
FORGIVENESS CAN ERASE IT AWAY.

BUT, WHEN SOMEONE DOES
SOMETHING GOOD FOR US,
WE MUST ENGRAVE IT IN STONE
WHERE NO WIND
CAN EVER ERASE IT”

LEARN TO WRITE
YOUR HURTS IN
THE SAND AND TO
CARVE YOUR
BENEFITS IN STONE.