Snow

So last night, a lot of white stuff started falling out of the sky.  It is cold and it will go right up your nose if you put your head up to look for where your sisters got to and see who is sneaking up on you.  A couple of times before we had some white stuff falling down but that was just a little bit of white stuff and this time there is a whole lot of it.  The wind is blowing so the white stuff is making piles and ridges so some places the ground is dark and hard and rough and other places it is soft and white.   Us ponies went in our big shed to get out of the wind.  There is no white stuff in our shed.  This morning, we heard the little green truck thing that brings us our nice hay, so we ran up the hill to the boxes to wait for it.  But the green truck thing  went to our shed and the lady threw our hay in front of the shed so we didn't have to eat it out of the boxes.  You know we hate those boxes, because they get in the way of our hay.  So we ate the hay fast and then we didn't have anything to do again, except stand in the shed and watch the wind blow the white stuff around.  The ground in the White Hill is white too, so I don't think we are going to get a chance to go in there any time too soon either.   The white stuff feels good on our feet, but I am ready for it to stop now.  We have enough white stuff.

lady laminitis?

So everyone and everything was way wet and we had to stand in our shed for days.  There was hardly any sun and the dirt got really super soft and it is deep and shiny and a little bit slippery.  Some of the ponies like to lay down and roll around and then when they get up, you can hardly tell who they are. I do not do that because I prefer to keep my beautiful coat all fluffy and shiny.  A couple of days ago, a different lady came and put hay in our boxes for breakfast and for dinner.  And then the next day, our lady was back, but she walked funny.  Have you heard about how some ponies walk when they eat too much nice green grass, or they go in the barn and eat lots of good grain and then their feet hurt?  I have never seen any ponies that this happened to, so maybe it is a farm legend.  All of us ponies have feet that are pretty and feel good.  Anyway, the lady was walking like her feet hurt like those ponies.  I don't know where she would have found a lot of green grass, because all our grass is brown. She was having a lot of trouble walking in the deep mushy ground with her floppy shiny big feet.  It was taking her forever to put our hay in our boxes.  We tried to get her to go faster by grabbing the bales of hay with our teeth but she didn't seem to like that at all.  And when we crowded around her,  sometimes her floppy feet disappeared completely, -- so how could we help it if we accidentally put a hoof on top of them?   So today she was almost normal but maybe that was because the ground was harder because it was really cold last night.  If she starts to walk like a normal pony, maybe I will get to go into the White Hill soon.   

boredom

I thought I'd have something interesting to blog about before now, but really, it is so boring around here there was not much to say.  There is stuff happening sometimes, but it is more of the same stuff.  There are still stupid geese swimming around in the pond with the little brown fuzzy animals with the skinny tails, still brown deer walking around in the fields eating nice grass and we are still stuck eating our hay out of boxes with nasty nets in them.  One day we tore the whole top off one of the boxes, but the lady made a new one and put it on.  After Tux got better and came back to live with us, that little gray filly, Mixtique, got sick and then her head swelled all up.  Toby said he got sick like that a bunch of years ago, but he is fine now.  He doesn't have a big head now, but he has a big ego.  When the lady comes out to put a halter on one of us ponies so we can go eat carrots with her in the White Hill, Toby is always right up there in the front with Harley and Billy.  And now Tux thinks he has to get in on the action too.  I think it must be a boy thing.  Of course, I want to go eat carrots, but I can't even edge my head in between those pushy guys.  My sister, Gypsy is really pushy, so she bites them, so she does get to go with the lady sometimes.  Yesterday, the lady had a bunch of pipes that she took into the White Hill and she was making loud noises in there.  Then she came and got some of us ponies and took us in there and I got to go too!  But after we stepped up on the wooden square thing, she went into the White Hill and I started to follow her, but when we got the gate, I stopped and didn't think I even wanted to walk in there.  There were pipes all over the ground!   They looked really scary and I was pretty sure they were super dangerous.  But the lady convinced me to walk inside and then we both walked right over top of the pipes.  Sometimes my feet would hit the pipe and it moved a little bit and made a clunky noise, but I hardly even flinched.  Then the lady made me walk over them by myself and when I would get to the pipe, she would say "Jump!"  Then I would get a carrot.  I am not sure what this "Jump" business is, but I think I am really good at it.  I am glad us ponies are finally getting to have fun in the White Hill, because it seemed like the lady was only taking those horses in there recently.  She would bring up Jewel and Alexis and Fleur and Mari but us ponies were way neglected.   Then the lady took Alexis and Fleur over to the barn because she said she thought they were ponies.  She put a shiny stick next to them that she said would show if they were ponies.  It is pretty obvious that they are horses because everyone knows that horses are big doofuses and ponies are cute and smart and short and all that.  Anyway, the shiny stick has a shorter black part that lays across their backs by their necks and makes them freak out. Then the lady reads a number on the shiny part.  "15" it said.  So the lady says they are horses.  Like everyone didn't already know that.   But I am not sure what that stick would say if she put it next to Mixtique.  She is cute and gray and ponyish.   Her brothers, Mak and Mat, are pretty short too.
   So I hope we get more excitement soon.   I want to see what happens with those pipes.       

Fall UnEase

    I don't know what is going on with everyone getting sick around here.  First AA, that big Thoroughbred mare that used to live in Boston had a belly ache and she was lying down and pawing until the lady gave her some medicine and then she felt better.  Then my Mom Tudi started lying down and was sad.  So the lady called some guy who stuck a needle in her neck and then she felt better.  And then yesterday, the black Tux, who lives with us, got sick and he didn't want to move.  He would just stand there.  He is quiet and sensitive and doesn't say much and the (other) bossy ponies didn't even know he was sick at first.  They would tell him to get out of their way and when he didn't, they would bite him. So the lady made him go into the White Hill with her and she washed off his feet and then another lady came when it was dark and she stuck a bunch of needles in his neck.  So I think he is feeling better now.  He is getting a lot of hay to eat in there and he doesn't even have to eat it through these nets in boxes.  
   But the lady said she is getting fed up with all these sick and dead and suicidal and stupid animals.  She has to keep dumping out Fusion and Artie's water trough because mice jump in there that can't swim. And then there was the raccoon.  He had decorated his fur with burdocks, so I guess he wanted to show it off.  He walked right up in the middle of the day and sat by the barn door watching the lady while she was making loud bang noises with a long brown stick.  You know, the barn is full of those noisy little brown birds, and sometimes after she pointed the stick at the birds, one would fall down. So she saw the raccoon sitting there watching her and she said "Shoo!"  I don't know why she thought saying "Shoo" would make the raccoon run away if the loud bang noises didn't.  Wow, if that was me, I would have run off when I heard the first bang, but not that raccoon. He just strolled over closer to the lady and sat down.  So then the lady went in the place where she keeps medicines and some carrots and brown and black leather things and when she came back out, she pointed the stick at the raccoon and it went bang again.  Then the raccoon fell over dead.   I think the lady felt bad for the raccoon, what with it being all friendly and everything, but she said that wild things are supposed to act like wild things, like the deer that run off and wave their tails at her when she gets close to them.  And she didn't think those dogs that live in the other barn with her would want to be friends with the raccoon.
   So I hope no one else is acting weird or sick around here.  It is getting chilly and we are all wearing warm fuzzy coats and are pretty chubby, so I guess we are ready for when that white cold stuff falls out of the sky.  But I would rather have nice grass!      

For kicks

    Today was wonderful!  The boxes that the lady brought to our field with the big orange machine were sitting there this morning and here came that lady with hay in the back of the little green truck and she put it right inside the boxes.  We all shoved each other out of the way and tried to pull the hay out through those nasty nets, but now there are so many boxes that everyone can eat hay at the same time so even when we are jostling and switching around we can still be eating.  Even Haylie and little Krissy can eat from some of the boxes.  Then the sun was out and warm, so most of us laid down and the lady came out and handed out carrots.  It was so nice with our bellies full and lying in the sun that we didn't even get up.  We made that lady reach down and give us the carrots. She took Harley and Krissy and Tux over to the White Hill and they got to eat carrots there and then they even went down to the barn where they got their forelocks combed.  The rest of us didn't even care because it was so nice out there by the boxes.
     Then the lady took some carrots out to the young horses and ponies that live with that cranky Red mare.  She took the little bay horse, Mat, with the white feet in front and combed him and put brown stuff on him and squirted stuff in his mouth.  Then she started to make his feet pretty.  Actually, his feet looked fine to me, so I don't know why she wanted to mess with them.  He didn't want her to mess with them either and he told her so a couple of times.  Sometimes that lady just doesn't listen to reason.  So she went to pick up his foot and Wham!  -- she was flying back into the wall.  Her dark shade things that she wears in front of her eyes went into the dirt and she had mud all down the side of her face and there was even red stuff under her mouth. She got up and looked pretty surprised.  I don't usually notice things like this, but I think her teeth were shorter.   So then she picked up his feet again anyway, but she only trimmed a little bit off the one that kicked her in the face.  And she didn't trim anything off the other ones. She just put him back in the pasture and went into her barn where she lives.  Then we didn't see her for a while, but when she came back, she didn't have dirt on her face any more and parts of it were really pink and shiny.  We didn't get any more carrots, so we are hopeful there will be more tomorrow.        

innocent ponies

Ha! Ha!  We are all such clever ponies!  Some tree branches fell on our fence tape and it was flat.  We could walk right over it.   We went into a wonderful grassy field and ran all around.  Then we went up a big hill and at the top the ground was black and hard and there were barns with windows that had people inside them.  So we ran back down the hill. You know that man with the nice grass in his yard?  He came to the lady's house and he told her that we ran up the hill and back down.  He said that some people called his house because they thought we belonged to him.  Ha!  If that man belonged to us we would be eating his nice grass! So the lady and the man came back to look at us, but we all acted like we hadn't been anywhere.  We just stood there in a bunch in our pasture and hoped the lady didn't notice that the fence tape was flat.  But she walked back there and put it back up.  Then that smart man asked which one I was?  He said he recognized me and said that I will have something exciting to write in my blog today!     

Fall fashion

My new do

burdocks

weeds w/burrs

So Fall is here which means that the opportunities abound for those of us fashion conscious gals to accessorize.  Of course, I am already glamorous in my luxurious shiny new coat with its intricate shading of red, gray and black.  But even I like to make a little extra effort as the pastures offer up a chance to try new forelock styles.  Some of the ponies go in for the whole mane effect and others even decorate their tails, but I personally find that less is more in that department.  So I am currently flaunting a fairly discreet if intricate forelock roll.   How do I do it, you ask?  Well, you need the right sort of ornamental plants in your pasture, for starters.  Everyone knows the classic pony adornment is the burdock.  These are robust plants and grow to large sizes, so they can be used by horses as well as ponies. As you can see in the pic, they are currently in perfect condition to be introduced into the forelock and can then be shaped and molded as the pony desires.  Burdocks have the additional bonus of coming apart as they age, so they are perfect for those who prefer a more extreme style, like the unicorn look that Krissy was sporting this morning.   A more recent arrival on the decorative scene is this weird weed that usually grows by the streams.  It has a hard burr that really sticks to your forelock and it doesn't come out easily, so it is excellent for the long term.  This weed can get pretty tall, but it tends to stoop down low as it grows, so you mostly have to walk along the stream to get it.  I was thinking the lady didn't like these weeds too much, because she whacked them down in my dad Bob's pasture (he had REALLY fancied up his mane and tail with them!)  but then today, she came down to our stream and cut them all down and carried them away back up to the barn.  So she must want them all for herself.  And she combed out everyone's forelock and tail except I wouldn't let her do mine.  I prefer to be the fashion plate of the farm!