A Few Changes at the Stable

There have been a few changes at Upper Pond Stable on our side of the barn over the past few days. Nikki, who had leased 10 stalls moved her horses out. So, it's just Tracy, MaryJo and me for now. That's ok, the 3 of us get along well and all feel pretty much the same on how to take care of our horses and mules. With Nikki's horses gone, there were empty turnouts. The turnout between the boys and MaryJo's horses was now empty so I asked Karen if I could move Marie to that turnout. It shares the same water hydrant as the boys so Tracy and I would only have to hook up the hose once each morning to water both turnouts. And, it's slightly more protected from the wind. Karen said that was fine with her. So, I turned Marie out there there the other morning. She seems to be very pleased with this situation. There is a bit of grass in there for her to nibble on and she now has company on both sides of her. She really seems to like MaryJo's horses and will hang out with them if they are near the fence line. And she was nuzzling MaryJo's mare, Tenguery, through the fence this evening and it was ears up friendly nuzzling. When MaryJo's horses wanderd away from the fence line, then Marie would go over and hang out on the boy's side of the fence line.

Today was going to be cold and very windy. When it's windy, there is a problem with the hay that is put outside blowing off out of the turnouts. Not a problem with the boy's now that they have the round bale in the Big Bale Buddy . I was trying to think of how to keep Marie's hay in her turnout and remembered I had a collapsible manure/trash bag in my trailer. I've seen many people use them as hay feeders at endurance rides and thought that might be just the thing. Tracy had the morning shift this morning and the bag was in my trailer but......... my trailer is a bit.......disheveled ..... right now and I was not quite sure where in the trailer it was. I didn't want Tracy having to dig through trying to find it. She is a good friend but there are some things you just shouldn't ask anyone to do........ Plus, I figured I would need to put a big rock or two in the bottom of the bag to keep it from blowing away. I really thought it would be pushing the limits of friendship to ask Tracy to first, dig around in my messy trailer and then second, to go looking around for big rocks that, if found, would likely be frozen to the ground! So, I zipped over to the barn at about 6:30am with a couple rock from a pile we have here at the house. I also rounded up my heated buckets to put in Marie and Louie's stall.

I found the manure/trash bag right away by some fortune. I drove over to the turnout and lugged the bag and rocks out and set them up. All the while I figure I'm likely freaking Prize out as I knew he could see me from his stall window and such activity tends to upset him. I had not planned to do any more then set the bag up with hay for Marie asTracy was coming over. But, when I went into the barn to get hay to put into Marie's bag, they did not understand why I wasn't feeding them and were being quite pitiful in their pleas to be fed. They made me feel bad so I fed them. I went out and filled up Marie's bag with the hay and was quite quite sure this would work very well. By the time I went back in the barn, the equines were done eating and now wanted to know why I was not putting them out. So, I felt bad again and put them out.

MaryJo has previously expressed a desire to get her gelding into a different stall away from the back door. The only stall available on our end of the barn was a stall that was on the inside wall. But, MaryJo really didn't want to give up a stall on the outside wall with a windows. And, of course, there is the matter of needing to keep this horse next to that horse in sight of this mule next to that mule.....etc. We talked about it at length the other day and we all decided on a move that we thought would satisfy everyone, horses, mules and humans. So, I would move Marie across the aisle to the stall on the inside wall. I have not noticed that she really cares about looking out the window so did not think she would miss it. We would then move all the boys up one stall. That would put Louie in Marie's old stall. But, they would now be right across the aisle from each other and Louie would now be able to actually SEE Marie. He would also still have a window which he does seem to like to look out of. Prize would move into Louie's stall but would still have the same two companions on each side of him and a window stall. He is the most avid window watcher. And MaryJo's gelding Arthur would still have Prize next to him but would no longer be right next to the door and would now be able to see one of his herd mates that would be across the aisle. It was all a good plan in theory but anyone that knows mules knows how much they hate change to their routine.

I attempted to set up my heated water buckets out only to find out the cords were to short to reach an outlet. Darn!! Oh well, that's life. So, I headed home and just told MaryJo to explain to Tracy when she arrived why the boys and Marie were already fed and outside. When I got back to the barn this evening, Tracy had the stall move all done and the new stalls all set up. I brought Marie in first. When I put her in the new stall, her head popped up and her eyes got big for a second in confusion. As soon as she realized there was food in the stall, all was right in her world. I decided to bring the boy's in one at a time. I figured they'd likely be all upset about being put in different stalls and didn't want things to get out of hand. I brought Prize up first. Poor Prize has been lame for about a week. Tracy (and I agree) thinks he has a developing abscess. Prize had no reaction to being put in the new stall at all. He didn't even hesitate near his old stall and quietly went into the new stall. He quickly surveyed his new accommodations, found his hay bag now mounted right under the window and instantly approved of his new home. He can now eat and look out the window at the same time. When I brought Louie in, he also went into his new stall quietly. He too calmly checked things out and was excited to find out he could now look out into the riding arena from where he was. There was someone riding and he was just fascinated. You could just see the wheels turning in his mulie brain. He was a little confused, a bit unsure, but didn't seem at all upset. Karn came over to see how they were all settling in. Quite anticlimactic from what I expected. All in all I think everyone is going to be happy with the new arrangement.

I recieved an email that afternoon from Tracy. She said she was confused when she got to the barn, thinking she I got her days mixed up but that MaryJo set her straight. She went on to say that after chores she decided to go out and give the boys a good curry to try to get rid of some of the caked on mud they were both covered in. She did Prize first and had a curry in one hand and brush in the other. She said she needed two hands to curry so tossed the brush off to the side. Well, guess who brought it back to her right away? She said she was laughing so hard and telling Louie what a good boy he was but that she didn't need the brush that moment. So she tossed it to the other side of Prize and Louie went and got that too....! Poor guy, she felt bad as she had no treats for him and she said he got a little disgusted with her. Silly Mule.

Have I mentioned how much I like it at Upper Pond Stable........