Timbit Wars

A few weeks ago I heard a lot of squealing and what sounded like running around from the mares and ponies as I was feeding another pasture breakfast. When I had everyone in that pasture eating I looked across the driveway to see what was going on. To my stunned surprise I saw Traveller, Dawn and Dolly engaged in a battle with each other, and they were each trying to herd Timbit away from the others.

Traveller standing with his "prize"

Timbit seemed to think it was really cool to watch them mightily vying for the right to claim him. After a few minutes though he decided he was tired of being nipped at and herded around. When he had a moment when Dolly, Traveller and Dawn were all consumed by each other and not watching him, he stealthily slipped away. He went behind a treeline and joined Cuff Links and Lily.

Lily studying Timbit in a way that would make you think she hadn't seen him daily for years; "hmmm, I think I might want this little one" . . .

. . . except Cuff Links won the showdown and had the honor of Timbit invading his space

I thought it would all end since Timbit was now gone, but this strange morning kept getting more strange. Cuff Links and Lily proceeded to face off to determine who got to stand next to Timbit. The surprises kept on coming as Cuffie won the "right" to Timbit.

Dolly looking pleased to have won Timbit . . . 

. . . on the mornings she won Timbit she would groom and nuzzle him from his ears . . . 

. . . to his tail

For the next several mornings in a row a different version of this same scenario played out, minus Cuffie and Lily. For a couple more mornings Dawn, Dolly and Traveller continued to "claim" Timbit. After a couple of days Dawn came to her senses and realized this was not a battle worth fighting, and certainly not worth winning. But Dolly and Traveller continued with the Timbit obsession. Some mornings Traveller "won" Timbit, other mornings it was Dolly.

on the mornings Traveller won he would also nuzzle and groom Timbit (that's Dolly watching the victor with his prize in the background) . . . 

. . . and generally express his adoration for his prize

Typically Timbit is part of a clique with Sparky, Bonnie and Sabrina so the whole thing was just weird. I should add that Bonnie and Sabrina seemed content for someone else to claim Timbit, there were no efforts to win him back from them. The daily Timbit Wars continued for a couple of weeks, and then they stopped as quickly as they had started. Dolly and Traveller both realized that winning Timbit was not like winning the showcase showdown on the Price is Right. Winning Timbit is more like winning a day with Steve Stifler from the American Pie movies. For a short while all the stunts are funny, then you just want to push him out of the car and drive on. That's what it is like to hang with Timbit.

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Cocomo, Gibson and Asterik

Gus and George

Merlin and Cino grooming

Bruno and Duesy

Taylor and Merlin

Happy and Digby

Miss Lyle and Mina, two of the World's Cutest Fainting goats

Rip, Grand and Elfin

Sebastian and Blu

Miel and Mick

Cisco and Moe

Sushi and Squirrel grooming

Blu and Taco

Lofty and Gibson

Magic and Johnny

Sunday Stills

Traveller and Cuffie waiting for breakfast . . . 

. . . a closer look at Cuffie

Toledo, Johnny and Gus

Dawn and Cinnamon

Lily and Maisie

Hesse

Alfie

Flyer

the grey horse club having a meeting at the water trough; George, Gus, Asterik and Silver

Remmy and Baner

Thomas, Apollo and Hemi

Convey and King galloping through the pasture . . . 

. . . followed by Chance

Magic napping with Ripley standing by

L-R Toledo, Rocky, Gus, Sushi and Roho . . . 

. . . a closer look at Toledo and Rocky . . . 

. . . a closer look at Gus, Sushi and Roho

Digby, Blu and B-Rad

Irma, Hawk Encounter, De-Worming

We had a visit from Irma over the last two days. We were told by the weather forecasters repeatedly that we were going to see a couple of inches of rain and sustained winds of 35mph. 35mph winds are laughable to those who experienced Irma at her worst, but still not something we typically see here. The occasional gust during a thunderstorm yes, but sustained, no. We put our porch furniture in the garage, I took down some of the big fly traps, and we generally relocated anything that was susceptible to being blown away.

Apparently Irma hit some much cooler air as she was working her way through north Georgia, and thanks to that she was nothing but a rain shower by the time she moved into middle Tennessee. We got almost two inches of rain through steady, soft rain over the last couple of days, but we never got so much as a puff of wind. I could have left a napkin on the ground and it wouldn't have blown away. Since Irma had already caused enough damage and destruction I was thankful the wicked witch had melted by the time she made it to Tennessee.

In other news Ewen, in a classic Ewen move, decided to face off with a hawk today. We've all seen this hawk sitting on the fence in various places around the farm several over the last couple of months. The hawk was fine, we saw him walk and fly, but he was clearly very focused on hunting some rodents and he was sitting on the top of the fence. Ewen kept running at him barking, and the hawk held his ground on the fence at first. But when Ewen wouldn't let it go he decided to come down and face off with Ewen.

As is Ewen's way, he was completely oblivious to the fact that he was about to take some talons or a sharp beak to the face. After screaming his name until I was hoarse (I'm still hoarse a few hours later for that matter), Ewen reluctantly gave up his game with the hawk and followed us to the house.

Ewen not processing this is a stupid move; this is happy stance with his tail up and smiling

all of the human screaming made Ewen finally start to question if this was a good idea or not . . . 

. . . back to tail up and smiling. "Why are you screaming at me??" . . . 

. . . after one last attempt at play Ewen finally gave up and came with us

we see this hawk around frequently, it likes to perch on the fences

After we finally got Ewen to leave the hawk alone and follow us we returned to our activity already in progress which was de-worming. While Irma visited yesterday we had a farrier here in the morning and the horse dentist here in the afternoon. Today it seemed like a good day to de-worm as the horses were too wet to do any grooming. Once the hawk encounter finally ended we went back to shoving tubes in horses' mouths. Just another day on the farm. 

Wilson and Sushi were being playful

Cisco and Levendi grooming

Moe, Homer and Revy (Baby in the background)

Johnny and Rubrico were playing

Sushi and Rubrico

Roho and Gus

Levendi and Moe

Walden and Fabrizzio

Timbit and Ewen

Johnny, Mick and Lighty

how Gibson felt about eating de-wormer . . . 

. . . Donneur wasn't fond of the taste either . . . 

. . . Wilson was in agreement

Renatta and Charlotte were hoping to find something better than tubes of de-wormer

Norman and Traveller

Chance

King having a great roll . . . 

. . . and shake

apparently this corner of the pasture was only for black or white horses; Blu, B-Rad, Nemo and Paramount

Lighty and Nemo

Mick and Taco

George rolled (Gus behind him). . . 

. . . and Gus joined him

Gibson and Cocomo

Donneur and Lofty