The ground at the barn is covered in ice and taking Friday for a walk can be a little dicey. I don't let the girls handle her because she is a bit unpredictable. Occasionally she gets very rank (ill behaved) and decides to through her head and dance as though we are going to the starting gate of an important race. Despite having her well in hand and a chain over her nose, she still tends to get wild. The kids stay clear. I'm afraid she may fall on the ice so I am now keeping her walks to a minimum. If her back legs start to swell, I will have to get her moving a bit more.
The drama at the barn today involved our 28 year old gelding, Smoky. While Grace and I groomed and checked Friday, Audrey helped me out by getting Smoky and turning him out in a paddock. Smoky ran, snorted, kicked, and rolled (his favorite) several times. I wasn't watching him since by then Friday had decided to attack another horse that was being taken out for exercise by his owner. I had my hands full and Audrey had come to join us. We settled Friday down, and by the time we went to check on Smoky......
We walked out of the barn and looked into the paddock......no Smoky! He was gone and the gate was swinging wide open. I yelled at Audrey, "He got out". I still had Friday and couldn't do much. Audrey was frantic. She ran to the paddock with a look of complete disbelief on her face. I knew right away where Smoky was.
Horses, particularly older ones, are very predictable. Smoky liked to go the paddock, get his exercise and roll, and then go back to his pen and have some special "Senior Food". I was sure that once he worked the gate open, he went back to his pen and was waiting for us to put him back in and feed him. Sure enough, Smoky had gone back to the pen, but he had bypassed his pen and gone directly to the senior food. His head was immersed in the bag and as Audrey approached him, scolding him loudly, he only lifted his head enough so that his eyes were peering over the bag. Little Audrey took him in hand by grabbing his halter and pulled him away from the bag (Quite a sight to see this little sprite of a girl scolding and berating this huge gelding!)
By this time I had put Friday on the walker so I could help Audrey. Smoky was safely back in his pen and Audrey had learned an important lesson without any harm coming to the horse. She was still fuming at Smoky, but he was oblivious and was waiting patiently to be fed. Audrey said she would never, ever leave a gate that wasn't completely secure!
Here are some new pictures of Friday. We forgot the camera (again) so we took these with the phone.
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