Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Having Fun

I always enjoy watching the horses. I can pass a lot of time simply watching them graze, nap, groom each other and play. Last week I had as much fun watching them play as I think I've ever had.

We have a pond on the property and in my last post I showed some of the many new arrivals we've been sharing the pond with. We usually don't allow the horses access to the pond and keep the gates around it closed. We opened the gates a couple of weeks ago to let the big boys eat the tall grass down around the pond and give us one less area to mow. The boys were thrilled to help us out with the grass.

I had never seen any of them make the slightest move towards actually going into the water though. Then one day last week as I was enjoying my favorite past time of horse watching the boys gave me a real treat. They played in the water and they had a GREAT time. I watched Apollo, Ivan, Elfin and Levendi slapping the water with their front legs and playing water wars with each other. Then at the end Elfin, Levendi and Ivan rolled in the water. Elfin even sat up and did his dogwalk in the water to roll on his other side.

I had so much fun watching them have so much fun, and as an added bonus I was recording it . . . or at least I thought I was. I could have cried when I realized I had NOT hit the record button!! I rectified this and did record some footage of them in the water but I missed the best part with the water wars and then the rolling. However you can see Elfin and Levendi roll AGAIN on the edge of the pond. You can also see Homer playing in the water a bit and at the end of this short video Leo finally gets brave enough to go out in the water.

The big boys playing in the pond

Apollo splashing in the water

Dustin posing by the pond

Ivan saying hello to the cameraLeo says "wait for me guys!"Leo still on the run Trigger, Chance and Leo running around the pond Tony galloping through the field
Trigger is thrilled to have friends and is so much quieter and easier to work with. Here he goes for a romp with Chance, Dustin and Tony
Trigger meeting Clay over the fence; he will socialize and participate in mutual grooming with any horse that will let him. Thankfully for him that is almost all of the horses!

Trigger meeting Silky (aka Slinky) over the fence
Happy grazers
I took this the day before Jason mowed this pasture. All you could see of Cuffie from a distance was this but now you can see all of him!
Pop Quiz: Which gray horse is this?
Elfin rolled in his stall while waiting for the farrier
Amy gave Elfin a bath which is not his favorite thing. He was very good though.
More happy grazers
Traveller, Sparky, Bonnie, Lexi, Bridget

8 comments:

jill said...

Great video. Our outdoor arena retains water after heavy rain in the back part. If I turn Joe and Scout in there, Joe will always go paw and splash in it. Scout is very hesitant. Once on a trail ride Joe stopped midstream and starting pawing. I'd never crossed water with him before and thought it was cute. A gal told me I better get him moving...sure enough he starting going down on his knees to roll! LOL! I caught him before we got soaked thankfully. I think he thought I was a real party pooper :-)
Jill

LuLo Designs/Blue Eyed Tango said...

Love the video Melissa! Great photos as usual! Luanne

Java's Mom said...

I never get tired of looking at your photos of your happy horses!! I love the way they all get along so well and are completely relaxed.

ezra_pandora said...

How cool!! I can't even get my mare to walk through a teeny puddle of water. I don't think she'd EVER go in a pond. lol!! How fun to watch yours playing in it. In your video, around the 1:10 part, it sounds like there's an elephant!!

And I can't even guess which gray horse that is. lol

LuLo Designs/Blue Eyed Tango said...

You might want to return to my post...and read the exact explanation of what we did with Slick. I added more details.

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking it's Harmony - there's a marish look about her (if it's a her - it could be Homer).

Thanks for letting us in on the fun your horses get up to!

SouperScar said...

My guess is Homer.

The Aging Pony said...

Awww, what great photos -- and video! My horses hate water, but they've never had a pond to play in on hot summer days, so maybe they would like that! I also love watching ponies run and play...it is just so much fun. Hmmm...maybe Asterik?