Old Flames Rekindled

I have written in the past about the pony wars, where the mares stake their claim on a pony and fall madly in love. The central player in many of the pony wars has been Norman. Norman is quite the ladies man and has romanced almost all of the mares at some point over the years. Calimba in particular has always loved Norman. Calimba and Norman were in an off and on relationship for a long time. Calimba was ready for it to always be on. Norman would call things off the second she hinted at moving in together or, even worse, getting engaged. Eventually Calimba seemed to accept that Norman was never going to take things to the next level and they agreed to be friends.

I did not realize that Calimba and Norman had rekindled their flame until a few days ago. I needed to clip Calimba so I caught her and led her away from the other horses in the pasture to bathe her. Calimba of course started calling to her group as soon as we were a few feet away. To my surprise Norman was the one that answered her. He followed us over to where I bathed Calimba and voluntarily stayed by her side through her entire bath. Calimba would occasionally look at Norman and nicker, and he would answer her.

Undoubtedly Calimba has her hopes up that this time will finally be the time that Norman commits. I hope she still has her copy of He's Just Not That In To You that the other mares gave her a few years ago. She's going to need it.

In another news we've body clipped a long list of horses over the last 2.5 weeks and I think the first round of clipping of 2018 might be over. I've got my eye on a couple of horses, but I don't think clipping will be needed in their immediate future.

Calimba checking to make sure Norman was with her

Calimba all soapy, Norman still standing by

Calimba rinsed, Norman still at her side

 Calimba in progress

Calimba after

Bruno in progress

Bruno after

George in progress

George after

Wilson in progress

Wilson after

Baner with an after pose 

Remmy saying to me, "MUST WE DO THIS??"

Remmy and Baner took off frantically running to their friend Hesse upon their return to the pasture

Hemi, Apollo and Levendi

Cino

Silver

Havana and Art grooming

Nemo and Taco

Toledo, Johnny and Rocky

Traveller and Norman

Rip, Grand and Elfin

Donneur, George and Cocomo

Taylor and Merlin playing

Quigly and Happy

Baby and Revy

Johnny and Digby

Bruno and Alfie

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