Ronni

The barn owner is not pleased. She's taking her Arabians to Holland for endurance training on the beach as she does every April, and assumed I'd be taking Ronni home with Baasha during that time. I never agreed to this - Ronni would ruin any chance at having good relationships with my new neighbors - he simply loves tramping through people's gardens, and exploring the sheep fields at night. He cannot be contained by the fence, and her fence has 4 electric wires. I've seen him go through it - his pony coat makes him impervious to the shock. What a life he has, doing as he pleases, getting his all-you-can-eat hay buffet and twice daily mashes, and then there's the freedom to leave whenever he chooses.

Sorry, can't take him here to our new home.

I made the mistake of giving Ronni a mento recently, and now everytime I'm cleaning up the paddock, he has his mind bent upon getting another one.















"I have nothing in my pockets." I tell him, but the thought of a potential mento is too much, and he places his tiny body between me and the poop, with that "Mento?" face.








I don't believe in hand feeding babies, so I often scatter his carrots or crusty bread on the ground. He seems to be very curious about my camera.













"Being small sucks! I can't reach anything. All the cool stuff is up high." I've noticed tiny hoofprints on the little hill by the shelters, I think he likes to spend his time up there where he's at normal horse height: )








It was a strange sensation when Baasha was gently checking my pockets, and little Ronni wondered why I don't let him do that, and Baasha glared at Ronni. With Baasha's nose on my neck, it was odd to see flattened ears on him! I've taken to just hanging out with them in their tent shelter, and Ronni lets me amuse myself by placing the poop tools on his back. He walks around with the scooper on his back, and when it drops, he picks it up, the handle in his mouth, and carries it around like a dog showing off.







Now the Arabians are back, and there's a lot of pecking order nastiness going on, and Baasha's got a new bite mark on his butt. Funny how even when horses pick on each other, the herd is still the best place to be.





I took a little ride yesterday and Baasha was really happy to be out, he was looking at all the new flowers and people working their gardens with interest, he spooked at some of the more ambitious gardening projects that happened recently, and he seemed really glad for the change of scenery. We visited a haflinger who was lying in the sun on a bed of straw. He looked like a postcard, his coat so warm in the sun, his eyelashes were so long, and his blond forelock touching the ground as he snoozed. The stink of silage wafted around, how do they eat that stuff?

Baasha was a little too eager to join his meanie herd mates, not jigging, but walking as fast as possible on the way home. So I collected him. I wasn't sure he would collect with only a halter, but he remembers my cues. He was annoyed, but he put all his forward energy upwards and got his proper rolling rhythm back. Rushing home is not allowed, but I truly understand the draw. It doesn't help that I was checking my watch, thinking about how late I'd be to pick up my man. Horses really know when we're late, and they gladly oblige by rushing.

I don't love cleaning buckets, there were simply too many water buckets in my past. But I have these 4 wonderful American barn buckets and I brought them home the other day. I cleaned them out with dishsoap and they look like new. I'm so glad I was able to get them on the airplane with my horse and keep them! The typical American flat-sided bucket is a rarity here (18 liters is so big!) and I appreciate having them here so much. Bucket washing has never been so enjoyable for me. Now they're in my barn, waiting for a place to be hung. It was funny to me how the barn owner couldn't figure out my buckets, isn't the handle in the way if you hang them? *snicker* Don't worry about it, they're mine!

Now the sun is shining, I've watched the temperature rise from 0 C to 5 C so I guess it's time to get out there and do some planting!