Someone is Missing and Rollfest 2010

Sunday morning (this morning) I handled morning chores on my own as Jason was a bit under the weather. It was a pleasant morning. We had another weekend of beautiful weather, today it was in the low 60's with bright sunshine. The morning had gone very smoothly, all of the horses had their best manners on display and it was just a beautiful morning to be outside. These are the types of days when everyone wishes they had a farm to work on (when it is cold and raining not so much).

I fed the Big Boys last. As always, I was counting horses as I walked to the pasture with their feedbags. I kept coming up one horse short. I didn't think much of it, assuming maybe the missing horse was blocked from my view by another horse. The feedbags are always put on in the same order every feeding, and I realized Levendi was MIA. Again I still did not think much of it. I kept expecting that he would come charging up at a full gallop once he realized the herd was no longer where he was. Sometimes they are so intent on their grazing they don't realize that everyone else has moved, and they finally put their head up and look around and realize they are alone.

I kept calling Levendi while the boys were eating but he didn't appear. I walked around briefly calling him and did not see him. I still was not worried because there pasture is huge, 40 acres, so you can't exactly see all of it without taking a good hike. When the rest of the boys had finished eating and there was still no Levendi I started to get slightly worried since he had not appeared, but not too much. I started walking through the pasture calling him. I did not see him anywhere and he did not appear. After a few minutes I was starting to get really worried. Of course I was imagining every possible worst case scenario. I kept walking, looking and calling him. After a few more minutes I was starting to go from worried to full on panic.

I pulled my phone out so I could call Jason. Sick or not he was going to have to come help with the search for Levendi, and I assumed help handle the impending emergency once we found Levendi and learned why he hadn't come for breakfast. I was scanning the woods behind the boys' run in shed when I noticed some movement. I looked more closely and saw Levendi just standing there in the woods looking at me, but making no effort to move. I put my phone away, relieved to have found him but very worried as to why he wasn't moving. I ran over to where he was and as I got closer I slowed down and tried to process the scene. There was a huge downed tree branch right in front of him blocking his path. I could tell the branch was not newly fallen and had been there awhile, and I couldn't see anything wrong with Levendi either.

Once I reached Levendi and investigated the scene I realized the dork was perfectly fine. All he needed to do was walk about 15 feet either to his left or his right to go around the branch and exit the woods. Apparently he was unable to figure that out on his own, as he just stood there waiting for someone to appear and solve this problem for him. I walked around the branch, put his feedbag on him, and led him by the strap around the branch and out of the woods. He then took off, feedbag and all, to rejoin the group. I followed him over and waited while he happily ate his breakfast. I understand why parents sometimes want to strangle their kids and hug them at the same time. That was pretty much how I felt about Levendi this morning!

Saturday morning was equally eventful but in a completely different way. Saturday was also a beautiful weather day and the horses were all enjoying the sunshine. The horses were highly entertaining to me as I watched one after another roll. I could hardly keep up with it, as every time one horse finished rolling I would look around and see another horse going down for a roll, it was a big rollfest for horses. I tried to take pictures of all of them but I missed some. Lucky rolled first and I didn't get his picture.

Clay was the next horse to roll; 2 horses and counting

Homer went next; #3

Trigger was #4

Thomas was #5

Elfin and Tony were next, and were numbers 6 and 7. I took a video because I wanted to capture Elfin doing his dogwalk where he rolls, sits up like a dog, and scooches over to the other side to roll again. He shot that plan down because he didn't do it! He stood up and then laid back down to roll on the other side. Thanks for nothing Elfin!



Leo was #8

#9 was Apollo

Buffy was #10

#11 was Missy

And Ivan was #12. I wasn't able to take his picture in the act because he was rolling at the same time as Missy. However I think this picture shows proof of a horse that JUST rolled!

I took all of the above pictures and video in a timespan of less than ten minutes. I felt like I was in the middle of an orgy and I was the only one not participating. I briefly thought about dropping down in the dirt by the gate to roll but I just didn't think I would be happy with the results. Maybe I will participate in the next rollfest.

Just for fun to wrap this post up here is a short clip of Norman the pony trotting through the field yesterday. He is SO cute!