Thoughts on Firecrackers

Mon Jul 2, 2007

After telling myself pretty much all day yesterday that I was too tired to go to the barn, of course I went, LOL! HAD to see my boy!! It's an addiction I tell ya!

I about did a Dance of Joy when I saw he was already in his stall (it was around 7 p.m.)!! Hoorah! He'd pretty much eaten most of his hay, so he was amenable to greeting me at the stall door & about climbed on top of me to get his beloved peppermint. GAD he looks scruffy...inch-long whiskers, 2" long bridlepath sticking up, his nose is all scabby and peeling from the sun, he's got dark tearstains under his eyes, my poor, poor neglected boy!!

BUT...His mane is detangled! Still! I put more of that detangler in it & finger-combed it, with a finishing swipe of his body brush, and it's laying nice and flat, with an obvious short spot in the middle, LOL. Well, IF IF IF I were to go to any horse show this year, I'd braid it up anyway, so it wouldn't be noticible.

He was in a good mood, probably because his tummy was full (I've asked they cut back his hay & grain & keep him in all night so he's not out stuffing his face 24/7), & enjoyed scratchies on his chesticles where the bugs had been biting. He CAN behave! He CAN act civilized!

The highlight of his evening was the presentation of the Bran Mash! LOL...he acted like a kid on Christmas Morning! Luckily he still remembered his manners and backed off when I raised my hand, I didn't want to get trampled over a bucket of wet bran & molasses! Oh, he dove right into that bucket of goodness & ate & ate & ate and while he ate, I finger-combed his mane.

Haven't gotten up the nerve to harness him up, but he isn't ACTING goofy (remember my free-lunging attempt Saturday?). Trick is, finding someone to help me. Well, it was a horse show weekend, so it was pretty dead around the barn. I could harness him, but no way can I drag a cart. We shall see, maybe on the 4th.

Of course he wasn't acting the least bit goofy at that horse show either.

It's also close to the 4th of July, and there's the worry of firecrackers going off. But Quzqo is good about explosions. Last fall we were riding down a dirt road, and two guys were sighting in their shotguns about 100 yards to our right...they let off a shot and *I* about jumped out of the saddle! The horse kept on ambling down the road w/o twitching an ear.

Plus the barn isn't really near any houses, much less houses with kids or rednecks living in them. And I have no plans to go driving down the road into neighborhoods with both afore mentioned subspecies of humanoid.

Oh...here's something interesting: My friend with the Paint mare told me that she was grooming her horse last week in her usual spot in the aisle, when suddenly, without warning, HER mare suddenly spooked and swung her massive hindquarters around and smacked right into my friend, knocking HER off her feet, she hit a plastic chair and fell to the concrete floor!!

She didn't break anything, but has massive bruises on her leg, thigh, and torso! Damned horses!

The horse spooked because Lola, the Corgi Bitch, quietly hopped down off a bale of hay, LOL! Glad nobody got seriously hurt.

It's the stuff you THINK will scare a horse that they ignore, and something you wouldn't ever thing would be scary drives them over the edge. Heck, Coos about jumped out of his hide when that mare in the stall next to his boinked him in the butt the other day!