Did someone say Cookies?

We were just out in the pasture munching on grass when we thought we heard someone say 'Would you like a cookie?' Surely they were not talking to us. We looked to the East and didn't see Terisa and she gives us fruit not cookies anyway. We looked North towards the blacktop but there was no one out there. And the cowboys were not out in the South cow pasture so where in the world did that voice come from? The only direction was towards the big house and that human girl doesn't make cookies. But there she was and she had something in her hands. My horse, the Pretty Boy, told me 'Don't go it's a trick.' But I thought I could smell something good so I went to see. My horse followed behind me just in case he was wrong and there were cookies. Hot diggity dog there WERE cookies and they were good! There wasn't even any charcoal part on them!! What a surprise that was. I followed her almost all the way back to the big house thinking maybe she forgot to give me more cookies but she said 'There are no more cookies. You can follow me if you want but there are no more cookies. No more cookies for you or for me. We all just got one cookie.' Alrighty then one cookie it is and we are thankful for that one cookie. Would like to have more but happy to have gotten that one and did I tell you that it wasn't even burned! I think she made them too cause they were not all hard like the ones the man brings from the store in March that look like Christmas Trees.

Cookies are wonderful.

Going to get my face washed

I have been told I will be getting my face washed later this afternoon. Looks to me like rain coming up from the Gulf so maybe not. Oh I know it needs washing and I like to be washed but I have just been soo wet for sooo long that I am sort of enjoying these last two days of dryness. I know I will have to have my face washed. I will let her put the halter on me. I will let her wash my face and then I will let her put fly spray on my face. She is nice about that. She sprays it onto her own hand and then smears it on my face instead of just spraying my face like some people do. I'm not sure it is real good for her to have fly spray on her hands but she washes pretty quickly after putting it on me so I guess she knows what she is doing or she is doing it anyway because she loves me is more like it.

Feeling much better today thank you

Yes I feel much better today than I did yesterday or the day before. It hasn't all been bad while I was sick I did have a good laugh yesterday evening at feeding time. Me and my horse, The Pretty Boy, were both in the barn to eat. The human girl put a short rope on my horse then picked up his bad foot to work on that hoof. Did you notice I said she 'put a short rope on my horse' ? Well that's all she did was put the short rope on him. When he finished his feed he was going to come over to my side and see what if anything I had left he might be able to push me out of the way and get. But he didn't make it to my side. Still holding his foot up in the air the human girl used the other hand to reach over and grab that short rope. She pulled his big ole head back to where he had no choice but to look directly at her. Then she said the most important words slowly, see she had already said HEY!, so now we were at the important part. Eye to eye, with his foot still in her hand she told him 'You pay attention to ME!'. That was all she said. She let go of his short rope and went back to work on his hoof. And he never moved a muscle or blinked an eye. He was paying attention to her. Finally she put his foot down and said she was done with him and he could go. But he stood there and watched her as she put up the short rope up and then hoof pick and then our feed cup. She went into the big red barn to do that and when she came back out he was still paying attention. She told him he was a good boy and that he could go. I had been standing there just outside the barn waiting to see what was going to happen next so I could hear what was being said. The human girl went back inside the barn and came out another door so we walked on over to the water tank. And there was that girl so my horse turned so he could pay attention to her.

She took the big drag harrow off of her 4X4 machine and hung it up on the wall. Then she got on her machine and started it up. Drove out into the pasture then backed it into our area of the big red barn but she puts it behind a gate so I can't play with it even though I like to. Then she came out and got in the cute little car and drove it out into our pasture then into the area where she just put that drag harrow. She went to close the south gate and my horse started toward her. She got the gate closed and told him to 'come on' so he did. And he got a big neck bear hug from her. Then she patted him on his shoulder and told him he was a good boy and he should go play now.

I think my horse, The Pretty Boy, might be the smartest horse I know.

Summer Cold

I have what the human girl says is a summer cold. She says I am disgusting that I should wipe my nose. How am I supposed to do that? I mean really! Does she see something on me that looks like it can wipe my nose? Oh sure I could sort of put my leg out in front of me a little and lean my head down and wipe my nose on my leg but now come on we all know what happens if you have head full of cold and you lean over. Well you might as well just lay down if you are going to do that because you will need to if do try it. My horse, the Pretty Boy, is trying to keep his distance from me. Not because he doesn't want to catch my cold but because I am blaming it on him. Twice maybe three times now we have been caught out in a rain shower and he has been able to slip into the carport inbetween the jeep and the truck leaving me no room to get in there. Alright fine I wouldn't fit in there even if I did get a head start on him but still he should stand out in the rain with me. That's like one of the things that friends do for each other. You get caught out in the rain well I'm going to stand out there with you. You go to jail I'll go with you........ok maybe not that. But you know what I mean. I thought me and my horse were buddies and there he was in out of the rain and there I was out in the rain.

Oh sure I could have gone any number of places and gotten in out of the rain but he was in that carport and me being the friend I am couldn't leave him in there. What if he got scared and needed me. Or when the rain was over and he came out he couldn't find me. No I couldn't leave him so I just stood out in the rain until I got a cold.

I'll be fine. Don't you worry about me. And it is pretty fun 'snorting' on the little human girl and making her squeal! I didn't say that was right I said it was pretty fun.

We thought it was a quiet day in the country....

But we were wrong. We were getting a drink of nice cool water and standing under a favorite shade tree talking about how quiet it is around here since the human babies across the road moved of the land. Oh yes! Did I not tell you about that? They moved to town last weekend. Not the closest town but a town two towns away that me and my horse have never even been to. No more babies singing to us in the morning or laughing out loud at the top of their lungs every day. Oh well. We have been told that they will still come see us.

So anyway we were just standing under that tree when the human girl came out of MY barn on her four wheel machine. Then coming from the other way was the human man on his big tractor.

Well let me tell you for sure that the peace and quiet of the country was not so quiet anymore.

Day before Father's Day

It is the day before Father's Day 2008. It rained all morning which was real nice. It was cool too. Not so much now but still pretty nice. I was all good and muddy before it started raining. I might be part pig since I love to roll in the mud the way I do. And some people say I do it to keep flies off of me but that just isn't so. Sure it does help with that but I have fly spray on me, or I do before I roll in the mud, so it's not like flies bother me. Nope. I just like to get muddy. The muddier the better I say! My horse, Pretty Boy, does not play in the mud like I do. I found me a place where there is a lot of loose dirt. I think it is where the Guinea Hens take their dirt baths. I get in my pond and play for a while then I get out and go roll in that fluffed up dirt those hens made me. Very nice of them to do that for me don't you think? They must have seen how much I love getting muddy.

It is after four o'clock in the afternoon and we have only gotten to have horse feed twice today. I guess that's okay but we were thinking we might want some more before the day is done.

Did I tell you that we had watermelon last week? OH YES!!! WATERMELLOONNNN!!! Terisa over the East fence gave it to us. She loves me. That is the first time she has given us watermelon. Mostly she just gives us apples and carrots. We LOVE WATERMELLLOOOOOONNN!!!!

The Pretty Boy aka. Trooper

Is that not the most beautiful thing you have seen in awhile or what!!

Frog inside ornamental bird house and another frog on top of it. Who'd a thunk.

I am Pretty Boy and I got in trouble

Hello my barn name is Pretty Boy and I have gotten into trouble. Oh yes. Nice horse that I am I got in big trouble this morning. You should have heard that little human girl. I am going to try very hard never to do that again. Here's what happened.......

It was a lovely morning. Perfect weather for grazing on tender young grass while waiting to get horse feed brought out to us. And then we saw her coming. She had the big white bucket. I know what that big white bucket is and I'm fine with it. Inside that big white bucket is warm epsom salts water for my foot to soak in. So she gets us our feed and puts it into our barrels for us. Then she gets my lead rope hooked onto my halter and sets the bucket on the ground in front of my bad foot. She picked my foot up, asking me real nicely, and put it into the bucket of water. I stood there eating while she rubbed my shoulder. Everything was fine until it wasn't fine anymore.

For some reason I decided I would step out of that bucket and go see what Precious had left in her barrel to eat. Only I didn't step cleanly out of the bucket. Oh noooo I didn't pick my big ole foot up high enough because I was looking over at her feed barrel and I knocked the bucket over.

'Bad horse! Why would you do that? I only just made that for you special and you go and knock it over!' That's what the human girl said to me as she sat that bucket back up. She looked in it and said 'Well I don't care how much is left in it you are going to put your foot right back in there mister and you aren't going to take it out until I say you can. I JUST made that for you special and you go and knock it over for pete's sake what were you thinking!' Of course she knew what I was thinking she knew I was thinking I'm going to go over there and see if can get me some extra feed but she had to say that anyway instead of exploding I guess.

So we stood there. Me with my foot in a bucket of warm epsom salt water that was only about an inch deep instead of a 12 inches deep and the human girl with her hand on my lead rope just in case I got stupid on her again. That's what she told me. She said 'Why'd you get all stupid like that?' We stood there so long that my horse, Precious, left the big red barn. And I still wasn't allowed to go look in her feed barrel. Oh I wanted to and I made a move to do just that but that little human girl said very quietly 'Do not move. Do not jerk your head or pull on this rope.' I hung my head down because I knew I was in trouble and not going to be going anywhere anytime soon.

When I hung my head down she was able to talk straight into my ear. Very very quietly she told me that she loved me and she was sorry if she had sounded mean but that she was very upset that I would step out of that bucket without being told I could. And knocking it over was just unacceptable. She told me quietly into my ear that we were not going to be standing there all day but that in just a little bit of time we were going to be walking out into the pasture and that I was going to follow along with her giving no trouble. And we did just that in a little while.

She told me 'Pick your foot up' and I did. She got the bucket and told me 'Come on.' We walked out of the big red barn into the horse pasture. I thought maybe we were going to go over where Precious was getting a drink of water but I was wrong. We walked straight ahead until she said 'Whoa' and I did. Then she put the bucket down, picked up my foot and put it back into that bucket that didn't have but an inch of water in the bottom of it. My head dropped because I knew there was no telling how long this was going to last. She rubbed on my forehead and said into my ear that I was a very good horse. She said I was very pretty and well mannered. She said she knew I didn't knock that bucket over on purpose. She was just talking and talking and talking to me. My horse, Precious, came over to see what was going on and when she got there she saw me still with my lead rope on and my foot still in that bucket and she put her head up to mine to tell me she understood. Then she went back over to stand by the water to wait.

It was not a long time after that that the girl took the lead rope off of my halter. I knew not to move. Then a few minutes later she picked my foot up out of the bucket and set it on the ground. She set the bucket off to the side. Still I didn't move. She hadn't said anything since before she took the lead rope off of my halter. She was just standing there in front of me looking at me. She backed up a few steps and then came back up to me. Then she stepped to the side and said 'You can go now. You have been a very good boy and I thank you.' She patted me gently as she walked away.

I didn't move. I wanted to make sure she wasn't tricking me. When she got back to the barn she said 'You can go now!' whew. That's exactly what I did. I will try hard in the future not to take my foot out of that bucket till she says it's time to take it out.

Hoof conditioner

The human girl asked me to follow her so I did. She went into my big red barn but didn't let me so I banged on the door with my big ole foot. She told me to 'hold on'. It is very hard for me to 'hold on'. I pretty much don't have a lot to hold on with. I can hold on with my teeth but that's about it for holding on. I can hold some still by putting my foot on it. And I can keep something from moving by moving my body around but 'hold on' is not one of my strong talents. So I banged on the door again. She came out with something in her hand I was pretty sure was going to be used on me but I didn't know where or what it was so I went right into reverse. She said for me to whoa so I did. She opened that can she had in her hand and I smelled it and decided I wanted no part of that. I turned to leave. She said WHOA! But I didn't. She grabbed hold of my mane since that's all I've got except maybe my tail for her to grab onto. Now sometimes she will just plant herself in front of me and push my chest but this time I was already turned away from her so she got a handful of my mane 'Whoa I said Whoa and that means STOP!' So I did. Then she pulled the thing that looked like a brush out of that can and leaned over. The girl should offer me an explanation of what she is fixing to do to me if she wants my cooperation right off the bat but she didn't so I stepped back.

Well actually I started to step back but she said NO so I stopped. She was still bent over when she said 'Just let me paint this on your hooves please.' Oh well that's ok with me. That stuff she paints on my hoofs doesn't bother me one bit. I don't even care if she does that. She can paint it on all four of them three times if she wants to. All she had to do was tell me what she was up to the silly human.

So anyway I got Hoof Conditioner painted on all four of my hooves and they looked real pretty. She told me she was done so I went to show my horse, The Pretty Boy, how nice my feet looked. I had to go a very long way because he had seen what was going on and expected to be next. He had nothing to worry about because he doesn't get that stuff put on his hooves him being 'special' and all. We are both pretty special. He soaks his foot in a bucket and I get to have my nails painted. Yep we are very special. Now I wonder where that human girl went to............

Such beautiful green grass

We have us some beautiful green grass to eat. Tender green grass and lot's of it too! This morning my horse had to get his foot soaked and the human girl wanted him to go where she had put down the bucket of warm epsom salts water but he didn't want to go. She told him it was only going to be for a few minutes and there was grass there he could eat. He still didn't want to go with her. She told me to 'come along'. He thought that was getting him off the hook so he put his head down to eat some more lovely grass. He was wrong. She told us both to 'Come along now' so he had to go. You should have seen how mad he was at being made to stand with his foot in that bucket of water just feet from the lush grass he had happily been munching on until she came out with her bright idea.

Horse's lay their ears back when they are mad. It is a good idea to take notice when we lay our ears back. The human girl looked at him and told him 'You just stand those ears back up. I know you are not happy but there is not reason to lay those ears down. That is not going to change anything.' She started rubbing him on his face right between his eyes right where he likes to be rubbed. He almost went to sleep but then he remembered he was mad and raised his head up so she could hardly reach him since he is so very big and she is not. Sometimes I don't know if that human girl is real smart or the opposite of that. She reached up and took the lead rope off of my horse's halter and hooked it onto her own jeans. Then she told him 'Now you can just stand there on your own and be mad but do not take your foot out of that bucket.'

Well I was standing about 15 feet away from all this because I saw him lay his ears back and I know that means he is mad and I didn't want to be anywhere near there. But after taking the lead rope off of him and telling him what she told him he just stood there. He had already tried to take his foot out of that bucket about ten times and he just quit. He just stood there and his ears were not laid down anymore. The human girl thanked him for being such a good boy and told him that now that he was behaving he could leave the area anytime he wanted to. He stood there about ten more minutes then took his foot out but he didn't walk off he just stood there. She told him it was ok if he wanted to walk away he could. So he did. He is an amazing horse and I am glad he is mine.

We didn't even notice......

We didn't even notice that we had been left alone there is so much nice tender green grass for us to eat and water in the pond. Oh sure the humans were only gone from night until morning but they were gone and we were fine. We can take care of ourselves a little bit. Horse's run wild out in the American West so it was nothing for us to be here by ourselves overnight. We didn't even care when they came home and waved at us. We just said hello back to them and went back to grazing. The human girl came out a little later and whistled us up but we didn't act like we cared much. Just sort of walked real slow sort of in her direction. But when she said 'Well fine be that way if you want' and started to walk away we high tailed it to her. Had to teach her a lesson we thought. We were wrong. She had made sure that we had food and water and the gates were locked before she left so she knew we would be ok getting our breakfast a little late.

The wind is blowing again or is that still?

Jumped flat footed into Summer

It was Winter then it was Springtime and now it is just flat out HOT! Very humid too. I'm starting to think maybe coating myself in that pond mud was such a good idea and when I went to the big house to tell the human girl I might have made a mistake she told me 'You get now. You go to the barn! It's too hot to play right now now shewww.' So I just popped in here to tell you that I will be down in the pond if anyone comes looking for me. My horse, the Pretty Boy, will only come into the shallow end but he is still very happy to be walking on all four feet!

Thank God for Ponds and little fishes! I don't know what that means exactly because well I'm a horse silly but I know it is a good thing. That is what the human girl said yesterday morning when my horse didn't kick her in her face. I was standing right there and saw it happen and it was not mostly his fault. That human girl was out here without her glasses on so she had her face way way down there where it should not have been. My horse pulled his foot up which she had in her hand and when he did her head came up and she said 'oh my'. Then she put his foot back into the bucket patted him on the neck looked at me and said "Thank God for Ponds and little fishes!"

Love to all and try to stay cool!