falling feeders

So, we were all standing around, feeling sleepy because it was sunny and nice and we had on fuzzy coats. I was even lying down when the lady showed up with her little stand for our feet and bucket of metal tools. She put the halter on Belle and combed out her forelock and then she trimmed her feet so they looked pretty. Then she did the same thing to Krissy and Elfe and Lu and Sienna. Then she did me too, because it is not fair to come out and make them pretty and not do the most glamorous pony. We didn't get any carrots tho. But then it was already getting a little dark, so she came back out with the green truck thing and our hay. Watching her rasp all those feet made us really hungry, so we were all gathering around the boxes that she puts the hay in and trying to grab some before she put the silly nets on top of it. Someone must had bumped that stick that holds up the boards that go on top of the box and WHAM, the boards fell down. The lady looked up and caught the boards right on her face. You know, she has these round metal and clear things in front of her eyes and that was what she used to catch the boards. It did not look like a good idea to me. I think she should have used her front legs that she doesn't use to walk to catch them. The round things slid down her face and the lady said OWWWW! really loud. There was even red blood on her face. So tonight she made us stay way back from the hay boxes when she put the hay in them. She brought a skinny stick with her and shook it at us and wouldn't let us eat any hay until she walked away. She had different round things in front of her eyes and her nose is shiny. She was not much fun at all.

new people

A couple of days ago, a man came walking up and looked at the white hill. He seemed to like it. Then he came walking over to us and we ran to the fence, because we thought maybe he had carrots and would take us into the white hill with him. We all looked as hill-worthy as we could. But he walked off down toward the pond. So we watched him because we were pretty sure he would let us out into the nice grass that was on the other side of the fence by the pond when he got down there. But he didn't do that either. He just walked around the pond and looked at the water. Then the lady who feeds us and another lady who kind of looks like her came over to the fence with that hunk Fusion. Fusion got to eat grass outside the fence while the new lady admired me and told me I was beautiful. Then Fusion did some of his fancy tricks for the man and the new lady and he got carrots. But no one gave me any carrots. I got to see the new lady a couple of times more because she came with our lady to give us hay. She was always carrot-less. Today our lady didn't have anyone with her and she just threw our hay over the fence. So those two shaggy yearlings came over and ate the hay with us. I don't know why Harley let them get away with that. I hope he's not starting to like that Fiesta better than me.

Moves

So there was a lot of excitement around here yesterday. First, those yearling ponies with their shaggy manes moved into our pasture. I know that Fiesta is supposed to be my arch-rival for the glamour position here, but I felt sorry for her, since Harley was being bossy and chasing her around. She can run pretty fast tho! Then the lady walked my mom Tudi and my little brother by our field and put them out in the pasture next to ours. Then she came by again with Haylie and her baby and then she went the other way with two of those bay mares -- the big tall one and the one with the funny face -- and put them in the back field. And then she came by with my dad Bob and put him in the field with the new bay mares. Bob wanted to be happy, but he didn't think the bay mares liked him very much, so he was being cautious. And anyway, he had to check out every inch of that pasture to make sure that there had been no intruders in the months that he has been spending up by the barn. So there was a lot of noise, with Taca and her filly calling their departed friends and the bay mares upset about their buddies leaving them. And of course, Bob just generally makes a racket to let everyone know he's there and that he is a macho guy. So now it is quiet because things have settled down.

Lafleur

Yesterday, the old horse who lives in the pasture next to us wasn't feeling good and didn't want to eat his breakfast when the lady brought it out for him. His breathing sounded funny too. Another lady came in the afternoon and looked at the old horse and gave him some shots. She tried to put a long, clear, wiggly thing in his nose, but he didn't like that. So then she left. After the rest of us ate our hay for dinner, he went and laid down in his pasture. And he didn't get up again. His mares were sad and kept calling him. The lady came out to look at him in the dark and she could see that he wasn't breathing. So then today she went to a hill in his pasture and dug a great big hole with that orange machine and put him in it. So now he can stay with his mares all the time.

maneless

So yesterday, the lady shows up with these pointed shiny things. We all ran over to see if she had good stuff to eat, but she didn't. She walked over to my sister Gyspy and made the things go "scritch, scritch" along Gypsy's neck. And all of Gypsy's hair fell off -- her whole mane, just gone! Then she went to other ponies and made the noises and their manes fell off too! I wasn't sure if I wanted to have her do that to my mane, since I am not sure if the minimalist mane is in fashion this fall, but she came over and next thing I knew, it was off! But my mane is fuzzy and fluffy, so she didn't make it as short as some of the other ponies. And Toby really wanted his mane to fall off, but she didn't do anything to his, maybe because it was short already. Sienna just ran around and said no one was touching her blonde mane. I didn't know Sienna was so vain. Then the lady went out and made the manes fall off those big bay horse mares too. So I guess it is the fashion after all. The lady says now we look like polo ponies and you KNOW how glamorous they are! I am going to include some pics of us ponies eating out of the boxes. You can't see all our manes too good, because most of us have our heads in the boxes.

boxes

So things have not been very exciting for us ponies. We are stuck in our regular pasture without any nice green grass. We do not get to explore any new places. And we have those stupid boxes that the lady puts our hay in so we can't eat it fast like we want to. The boxes have a net thing that lays on top of the hay, so we grab it with our teeth and try to yank it out. That was working pretty good on two of the boxes because then we were able to move the square wooden thing that holds the net thing in. So we could lift it up and eat the hay underneath it. And we have one hanging net thing that we were able to pull down, but it didn't help with getting at the hay any better. The lady nailed that board back up. And it seems like every day she comes back out and makes a lot of noise with little tools and makes changes to the boxes. Of course, we try to help her, but she doesn't appreciate our help. We dump little shiny metal things out on the ground and we walk on the boards. She should stop messing with those boxes and just throw our hay on the ground so we can eat it. Or she should bring us carrots. The least she could do is take me over to the white hill so I could get my fuzzy coat brushed. She has been taking those big horses to the white hill instead of us ponies. Today she took Jewel there and then she got on her back and rode her out the gate. Jewel is always worried about stuff that the rest of us don't see. She wasn't snorting as much today, but right outside of the gate suddenly whoosh!!!--- she was bolting away from the hill like it was going to eat her. But she stopped after about ten ponies lengths. Then she snorted and rolled her eyes at the hill, but I don't know what she was upset at. Maybe it was that little bossy dog in the green truck thing. Or maybe the side of the white hill was flapping. Anyway, she had to walk back into the hill and back out and all around outside there. She was a little mad about it and kept shaking her head. So then the lady put her back out with those other big horses and brought Mari into the white hill too. She didn't ride Mari out of the hill. She just rode her around inside. Mari is not worried about everything like Jewel is. But the other mares that live with Mari yell for her. Us ponies are not like that. If one of us goes to the white hill, the other ponies just watch the lucky one go. I hope next time I get to go the white hill!

Puzzle boxes

Us ponies just love the new puzzle boxes that the lady brought out here for us. I thought it was going to be hard to get the hay out of them, and we would all just be fighting and biting each other (okay, so actually biting other ponies is fun, it is only not fun when other ponies bite me) when she first brought hay out and put it in the boxes. But it turns out, the objective is to remove the net thing that is keeping us from grabbing mouthfuls of hay. See, the box is wooden and then it has this heavy net stretched on a metal frame that goes inside and lays on top of the hay. Last year, we would just grab that stupid net and drag it out of the box and stomp on it. So now there is an extra wooden frame that sits over top of the box. It is tied down to the top or has some kind of metal snaps on it. We discovered we can slide that frame over a little and by grabbing the net with our teeth and pulling it many many times, we can get part of it to stick up and then we can stick our heads under it and eat the hay. It makes a lot of noise banging around. We think it is so much fun, that even after the hay is gone, we pull out that nasty net thing until we can get it on the ground and stomp on it. Last night, the lady brought a different kind of net that she hung on the fence where it is solid boards. It is green on the back and has the net on the front. The hay goes on the inside. Ha! I am pretty sure we can tear that thing up in no time. The lady is definitely finding fun stuff for us to do!