A day with the Big Bay and a Monday morning hahaha

Yesterday after Cody’s ride with daughter I groomed the Big Bay from head to hoof, brushing out his tail completely, and his mane, and trying to get some of the shedding hair off him. He enjoyed the attention, and I suspect thought we were going to ride. He had come in from the field when he saw me in riding boots and toting my helmet. I took them out in case I had time, but he also needed a hoof trim, so that took precedence.

He was enjoying solo time in the barnyard when husband came out with the rasp, and stood nicely while all four hooves were trimmed. No halter, no holding. I went in and brought out not one but four peppermints, one for each hoof, and gave them to him as the final hoof was being trimmed. He Being the Big Bay, he immediately wanted MORE. But seemed happy enough to lick my hands and shirt for the next 10 minutes.

A couple of weeks ago he and Cody (not sure who, or in what combination) broke the very heavy strip of metal that allows us to use oak boards as stall walls and lower/remove them when needed. The entire piece of metal was bent off the wall and three or four of the boards cascaded down like dominoes on top of each other at that end. I’m grateful no horse was injured! When husband made the repair we decided to take the boards out and let Keil Bay have a double stall. I’m still fretting about him lying down to sleep, though I haven’t seen him doing the nodding off thing in the field at all since the chiropractor was here.

I think he likes the double stall. He’s a large horse and although he always slept in a 12x12 stall with no problems, this double one gives him plenty of room to stretch out. He’s never closed in, but I’m now wondering if maybe he would feel more secure BEING closed in for a couple hours a day. With warmer weather coming I can bring him in during the peak heat time and see if that works.

At the end of the day I was sitting with him in the barnyard and when I finally got my things and headed in the backyard gate, I turned back to see this:

I have no doubts he would follow me right into the house if it were possible. It is always in the back of my mind that it SHOULD be possible. A living room with horses. Wouldn’t it be grand?

I’ve written here before about our issues with neighbors’ dogs running loose and coming in the pastures. We’ve also had issues with coyotes. Once the new fencing was in and the farm became fairly secure against dogs, at least those not able or willing to jump a four or five-foot fence, I’ve been able to relax a little, but I let all the neighbors know several months back after hearing a dog barking in the field one night that I would be calling the sheriff if I found any dogs on my property and if any equine injuries occurred as a result of dogs that don’t belong here would be utilizing NC’s livestock law to recover any medical damages.

All but a couple got angry with me and the neighbors directly adjacent determined their dogs deserve to run free and are so well-trained they don’t need to be on leashes. My response to that was to copy the county dog law and send it to them and to reiterate that I would be suing for damages if I or any of my animals are injured as a result of their dogs running free on our property. So they begrudgingly put their adult kids’ dogs on leashes when they visit and parade up and down our fence line (they have more acres than we do, and plenty of other space to walk the dogs, but our fence line has always been the place they come to, for whatever reason). This morning the adult daughter had her dog out there with a long lunge-line length leash on the dog but wasn’t holding it at all. The dog was trotting along our fence line and the daughter was looking over here watching the donkeys alert, flaunting the fact that she had a leash on but refused to hold it.

I was annoyed (our fence is well inside our actual property line so if the dog is at the fence, they’re trespassing) but not stressed since I doubt this dog would jump in. Cody was on guard and the pony would go after the dog in a split second but really, do my horses and donkeys have to put up with this kind of ridiculous behavior? But I refrained from doing anything other than standing on the front porch keeping an eye on things. Suddenly the dog took off down their long driveway and wouldn’t come back when his owner called. Off he went, running down the lane toward another neighbors’ duck pond, more horses in fields, and I had to laugh at the notion that their dogs are so well-trained they don’t need leashes. The daughter ran to get him and 15 minutes later came back holding the dog’s leash.

Interested to see how the rest of the day goes and if they bring the dog back out to “run free.”

And very happy to have the Corgi run in back so mine can run free without leaving the property. Which begs the update: Baloo allowed me to slip his harness on yesterday! So he’s only a few days away from exploring the new space.