A Good Day....

Amber is out of town on vacation, and the kidlets and I have been feeding and taking care of all of her critters lately. Yesterday was only about 80 degrees-which is actually cool right now!-and the kidlets wanted to ride, so we went up early. It was about 3:00, so we gave the panonies a small snack first. I usually let them graze out in the yard, but the grass is all dried up. Waska-above-still has his front boots on, and he is still tender, but he moved around pretty good. We didn't get him out, but I did give him a good grooming while he was snacking, and boy was he itchy. Katie decided that she wanted to pick manure, and who was I to complain???

She's a girl after my own heart, as I used to religiously pick manure out of our horses paddocks and pastures twice a day when I was growing up. It just looks and smells better, and besides...who wants to stand around in their own poo??? LOL!!!Meanwhile...Eric had finished brushing Bo, and wanted to ride, so I left Katie in the paddock with Waska and Sienna. (There he goes! Choking up on that lead rope again!!! LOL!!) Katie was a bit nervous to be in the paddock without me, but I told her that I would be right on the other side of the fence, and I also figured that it was a good time for her to get a little bit of confidence.

She gave Waska one last kiss, and grabbed her wheelbarrow and her manure fork. I told her to keep the wheelbarrow near her, just in case she needed it for security. She is a lot smaller than Waska, and I reminded her that even though Waska is was bigger than her-Sienna is obviously not a threatening presence...lol!!!-she is/was the boss of the paddock, not Waska.

I also told her to whack, shove, or push Waska if he got in her space and tried to be bossy. Gotta raise her up right, right???? LOL!!!And sure enough, the minute I stepped out, Waska walked over to Katie. You can see that she was unsure about what to do, and I told her to relax and pet him.

I also reminded her that the manure fork could be used as an extension of her arm-if need be-and she finally relaxed and pet him. He looks really threatening, doesn't he??? LOL!!!!Eric rode Bo around for awhile, but he was kind of being a turkey, so I had to get on him. I felt like a kidlet myself, as I cantered and ran around in a bareback pad...teeheehee!! Eric took some pictures of me, but I will not show them to you!!!!
After we were done riding, Katie, who was in a horse kissing mood, came up and gave Bo a big kiss, and a barbecue potato chip.

We then shared some of the huckleberries that we found with the panonies....
...watered Amber's plants....
...and played with frogs. :)

It was a good afternoon!