green houses

The happy man was back doing even more weird stuff with the new little fences. He has these gigantic metal hoops on the ground and he hoisted one way up in the air and stuck it on top of the little fences. Then he put more of them up there. I asked the other ponies what they thought it was and no one has a clue, except that Krissy. You know, the rest of us were born here on the farm, but Krissy, she's from Vermont. She says that when she was in Vermont, she saw a thing made out of hoops like that and they called it a green house. Well, that is just stupid. Everyone knows that grass is green and this thing doesn't look anything like grass. It is shiny and metal. And what kind of house could it be anyway? We have a bluebird house on a post near our field and bluebirds made a nest in it. This metal thing is way too big to make a nest in. We tried to tell Krissy that she doesn't know what she is talking about, but you know those Vermonters -- really stubborn. At any rate, we are excited to see what happens next.

Fiesta time

So all us ponies came over to watch the happy man dig the holes, but there were no more holes. Instead of holes, there were big posts sticking up out of the ground, that he cut off with a loud machine. Then he made them flat all along the top with boards, instead of the normal way of making fence so that we could go out there and eat grass. We don't have any idea what he is doing. So while we were watching, who comes along but that so-called fancy "Fiesta" filly, who is only a year old and lives next door in the rustic paddock. I think she is trying to take my place as the most glamorous pony. She was strutting around over there with her little Elf friend, all "Look at me!" and trotting back and forth and acting like her spots make her better than everyone else. Well, let me tell you, no one cares about big white spots on ponies. They are just hard to keep clean. And anyway, her mane is all in her eyes and flying everywhere. So there. Just because she is young and silly isn't going to make her glamorous. Right?

holes and hopping

So yesterday this man showed up and was digging holes where the lady had been digging them. He seemed a lot happier with the hole digging than she was when she started them. He put posts in the holes and stuck other boards to the sides of them. I heard the lady tell him that she needed a place to work with the ponies. Isn't that the silliest thing you have ever heard? First of all ponies don't work. Ponies are here to bring joy to the world. We eat nice grass, chase each other, jump over ditches and creeks and get people to scratch us. Or we scratch each other. But we don't work. And even if we did decide to work, why would we want the lady doing it with us? I guess she could bring us food if we got hungry. She seems to have an inflated sense of self-importance. Anyway, she was riding Artie and he was having fun! She ran him at obstacles in the arena and he had to hop over them so he didn't knock them down. You could see that he thought she was nuts or blind when she started it, but then he was sailing over them just like they were creeks! They both were having fun. In the afternoon, the lady came out to stick a needle in some of us. That hurts! I walked right up to her because I'm not afraid to needles, but she didn't want to stick one in me. She gave me a carrot. She wanted to catch my little sister LuLu, but LuLu wasn't sure what she was up to and kept walking away. She never did get stuck with that needle, so I guess that was pretty smart, especially since Lu is a blonde, with a flaxen mane. Today it is cool and there are hardly any bugs. Now if we could just get those stupid geese to go away too!

Banner day for ponies!

Well, TODAY was exciting! First there were the stupid geese. The stupid geese were everywhere. They are noisy and poop on our grass. There were about a million of them, but then most of them left, so there were only about 20. That is still too many geese. And we got to go into a new pasture that didn't have any geese in it, which was much fun! The weather was cool, so the ear bugs were not as mean as usually, so we stayed out in the grass all day! From the new pasture, we could see my mom and baby brother and then Haylie, one of Mom's friends, came out and had a new baby running next to her! The lady came out and took pictures of the new baby and of my brother and then she came over to take pictures of us too. I knew she would want to get "glamour shots" of me, so I was posing, but she kept trying to take pics of my big brother Harley. Harley didn't want his picture taken, so he would go into the clumps of ponies and hide. The other ponies knew that I was the one who should have her picture taken, so they helped me out by standing in front of Harley or butting in in the middle of the photo. It was grand! I think she got some good pictures of me!

barn visit

Today was very exciting. Toby and I were specially picked out to go up to the barn! This is because we are both incredibly beautiful and was NOT because we were standing closest to the gate. At the barn, everyone there commented on how pretty my coat is and what a lovely pony I am. I got curried and brushed and had my mane and tail combed out and got the long hairs on my legs and under my chin trimmed. I would have had a pedicure too, if I hadn't just gotten one two weeks ago. There was a lot of splashing noise from buckets being washed but I was hardly scared at all. I don't know what Toby did, because he went up to the barn after I got back. All the other ponies were really jealous of me. And I got carrots too! It was a great day!

boring

Okay, so today was so boring we could hardly stand it. And you know, it is not like us ponies don't think a lot of stuff is interesting. Like yesterday, after the Fjord went by and we were still all excited about him, then we had a fox run through our pasture. THAT was fun! He stopped, he looked at us and then he trotted and then he stopped again! Wow! We even thought maybe one of us should go out of the shed to follow him, but he ran off before we could decide who was going to have to go out. But today, there was no fox. No Fjord. No nothing. Even the bugs were bored. We were so bored we were watching what the lady was doing. She did not take any of us out to get brushed or put a saddle on us or climb on top of us. She got on the big orange machine and made it back up and then she drilled holes in the ground. I don' t think she liked the holes because she didn't look happy. In the morning, she seemed like she was waiting for something, you know how when you are hungry and you know someone is going to show up with some hay or to open a gate to let you out to eat grass? That was how she looked. She opened the driveway gate and then she stayed in the yard near the gate, cutting branches off trees. And she kept checking the gate, like she thought it was scary or going to have a carrot. After a while, she closed the gate and started to dig the holes. They look like pretty big holes. I don't think there are any groundhogs living in them tho. So that was it. Nothing but holes today. Boring.....

hunk Fjord

So I spent almost ALL DAY in the shed. It was muggy and buggy all day. First it rained and was muggy, then it was cloudy and muggy and then it was sunny and muggy. Good thing the bugs don't come in the shed too. I don't know why, there is certainly plenty of room for them to get in, you know, like whole horses fit in through the opening in the front, but the gnats don't come in. We ponies don't think about why too much, we are just happy that the bugs are not in there with us. So it was pretty boring, let me tell you, standing around watching the bugs, and then here came the NORSE Horse! He didn't come in the shed, of course, because he was being ridden so he was outside the pasture and he had on a fancy fly mask and smelled like bug spray. He is SO gorgeous, all of us girls, we just started jostling around and wanted to run over to the fence and yell to him, except that there were all those bugs out there. He has this mohawk mane with a black stripe down the middle and it stands straight up like four inches and he is blond all over -- and built -- man, -- he has muscles everywhere. He is one hunk of pony. Last year, when he first got to the farm, he came to live with us in the pasture. He is size-wise a pony -- 14 hands, but we call him the Norse Horse anyway, which makes him all proud. Anyway, he chased and bit the boy ponies and made them stay far away from us girls and we were all gathered around him while he strutted and acted all macho. But then the lady came to get him to ride him and he made nasty faces at her and turned his butt toward her and cocked a hind leg at her. You should have seen her -- she got really mad at him. Then he wouldn't go with her when she tried to lead him away from us, which made her even more mad. So after that he had to move out of our pasture and now he lives with a horse gelding named Artie. He and Artie get along fine and Artie is his boss. But us girls wish he could behave himself and move back in with us. That mane is so you know, just wow.

Bugs

Bugs! bugs! bugs everywhere! Every time we try to go out, the bugs are in our ears and pinging off our noses. Gnats -- or rather Adirondack black flies -- I think we must have so many because of the stream that runs through our pasture. I heard that they like running water. We get stuff in our ears to keep them away, but it only works for a little while and then the bugs come back. I hate the bugs! It has been wet all spring and it is really humid now, so I think that contributes to them too. This evening, the horse youngsters were going into the barn and right after they had their fly masks removed, Mak was nosing around a little rake and it fell over in the aisle and scared the daylights out of him. (I told you about horses, didn't I?) So he and Ferris went careening out of the barn and galloped all around. By the time the lady caught up with them, they had so many bugs around their heads, you could hardly see their faces. They were really upset about it. It is never good to get hot and sweaty and run around when the bugs are out. It just makes them worse.
Did I tell you about my baby brother? He was foaled last week. He is cute, but my mom, Tudi says never to tell anyone about a new baby. I said Why? and she said Coyotes. I have seen some coyotes around but they have not bothered us. Probably because we are bigger than them and there are a lot of us. Billy and Harley and Toby would be mad if a coyote came in and tried to bite us. And I think a coyote would have to be nuts to want to mess with MY mom and Aunt Taca and Haylie. And usually my dad is out with them too and he hates canines, but he is up at the barn. He is good at watching out for his mares and babies -- everyone knows that stallions are in charge of security.
Well, I am going back to our luxurious shed and waiting for these nasty bugs to go to sleep. I hate these bugs!

Ponies!!!!

Okay, so the ponies. I need to tell you about the ponies. First, I should say that there are ponies and horses both here at the farm. In case you don't know the difference between horses and ponies, ponies are smart and gorgeous and cute and hardy and handy and friendly, while horses are big doofuses. Well, no, that's not fair. Some horses are not all that big. And actually, some of my pasture-mates (and even my brother) are part horse. So I guess horses can't be all that bad. Anyway, I live with 12 other ponies. I am related to most of the ponies, because we have the same dad. His name is Bob. But my brother Harley's dad is a big horse named Lafleur. He is an old horse and lives in the pasture next to us. He is always keeping an eye on us, and if he hears any commotion, he comes trotting over to the fence with his tail all up and pawing and acting like a hot shot, wanting to know what the deal is. He feels he has to keep his mares and baby safe. Of course, there is not usually much commotion in our pasture, because we all get along pretty well. Billy thinks he is in charge of the bunch. Billy's mom is "Aunt" Taca, who lives with my dad Bob and my mom. Billy looks just like a horse, even tho he is a pony. His dad is Tustin's Bandoleer, who was the Grand Champion at Devon some years back. But Billy doesn't brag about it or anything. He is bossy tho, and sometimes he tries to tell the rest of us what to do. He is BFF with my brother Harley, cause they were just born a couple of days apart and they grew up together.
Well, it looks like hay is arriving, so I have to go. More later....

Welcome!!!!

You can probably already tell just by looking at my pic why I m getting to do this blog. I am the most glamorous pony here on the farm. I mean Really, am I star quality or what? And I am in the know when it comes to stuff going on around here. Not that I get out all that much, but I hear things and you know, the others like to confide in me because of the "glamor" factor. So there, now you know why I am in charge of this. So let me introduce myself. I'm a gorgeous roany pony, I started out bay like my Mom, her name is Toodle Lou, but the lady calls her Tudi. Tudi is reputed to be of British descent, with her ancestors hailing from the moors of Devon, (the one in England, not the one in Pennsylvania that has horse shows) but no one knows that for sure. My Dad is Welsh, so also a Britainer. Me, I'm an American pony. One time there was a British lady here, talking funny and I bit her hat. She was really surprised! Anyway, I used to live with my Mom and Dad and Aunt Taca and her foal, but then I moved up to live with the other ponies. We are a real gang and we don't need any adult supervision. We have a big pasture and a big shed and a creek. And some trees, but the only time we like that one tree is when it gets some apples on it. There are 13 of us ponies in the gang so I'll be telling you more about the others soon. For now, I have to see if this rain made any nice grass grow.