we have redtails and donkey races today

This morning I went out with the intention to get all the barn chores done early, as we are expecting two days of possibly heavy rain associated with Hurricane Ida. I fed breakfast tubs and then stood in the little barnyard while the horses and donkeys ate.

The redtail couple came out together for the first time. I've only seen the male, in a series of close encounters written about previously, and although I assumed there was a female close by, had never seen her.

Today, beneath the gray sky and still brilliant autumn color, including that rich tobacco brown of leaves past their prime, the redtails carried on a lovely conversation, pinwheeling along from fence post to fence post, while I watched.

As equines finished up their tubs, we opened the arena gate in hopes that the donkeys and Salina would go in and get some exercise, but the way it ended up was that Rafer went in, was quickly joined by Redford and Salina, and then Rafer decided he wanted to play, but on his own terms.

So he went through the arena fence into the paddock where he could face off with Redford through the fence. The two of them played a new donkey game today, in which they played hide and seek from either side of the fence and the mounting block. Redford would peep out at Rafer, then paw the ground. Rafer would prick his ears and Redford would gallop a full circle of the arena, return to Rafer, roll, and then they would start it all over again.

At some point Rafer decided he wanted to race. The dirt paddock is a long rectangle that parallels the arena, and since we're using the back field this week, Rafer was able to run down the paddock, through the back gate, and around the outside of the arena all the way around except for the short side by the woods.

He and Redford raced like this for about 15 minutes, and at some point Cody joined in from the back field and he and Rafer were neck and neck on the outside, while Redford kept up inside the arena.

I have never seen anything quite like it. I began to have visions of building a race track, and having our own donkey derby in the spring. We could drive the truck into the center of the arena and have our own private tailgate party!

As quickly as it began, it ended. I'm not sure who the winner was, but they got quite a work-out this morning and should be all set to enjoy the rainy part of the day when it rolls in.

For now we have a slight wind blowing and leaves gliding and then cascading in groups as the wind picks up. The longer the rain holds off the better, but we're ready for it when it gets here.