And Then There Was Rain

Hello from dry land, but barely! Winter visited us again, this time in the form of 4 days of nearly non stop torrential rain. We are in the foothills just 5 miles below snow line and often get more extreme weather than other folks farther down in the valley than us. The few times my husband or I forayed out in this storm the rain let up remarkably only 6 miles away. But here, at the house, we got *soaked.* 

 

I don't know about you but if I think a storm is going to be big and get the horses tucked up in the barn, inevitably the storm blows out quickly and the horses are questioning my sanity. Now if I have the gall to underestimate Mother Nature, on the other hand, I end up retrieving mad cold horses in the wee am or pm hours, every time. I went ahead and erred on the side of the latter this time, which resulted in the Saturday 6 am rescue mission: Save Soggy Steeds.

my husband, J, helped deliver Sheza in this stall almost 3 years ago :-) It's the dim barn lighting, Sheza isn't really a glowing-eyed demon..really..

Rambo got more bonus points for proving himself completely reasonable for catching up and stabling in the dark in the pouring rain and unfriendly wind. Sheza briefly toyed with the idea of being Uncatcheable while I stood in the downpour with Desire already haltered and waiting, but a muttered threat about leaving her out there alone found a suddenly eager filly at my shoulder and thrusting her nose into the halter with her usual drama. Whether she's doing what you want or not, it *will* be done dramatically, you can rest assured. 

Rambo enjoying the finer side of being a RE pony

Soggy steeds then stayed in their cozy stalls the entire weekend, until this morning when the rain has finally quit and patches of blue sky are fighting to be seen through the heavy but quickly moving clouds. Fortunately turning out 5 Arabians and a mini horse after 48 hours lockboxed was nowhere near as dramatic as it could have been. It was entirely too slippy for drama and nonsense but I feel anxious with them stabled so I went with the theory that the eagerly sprouting green grass everywhere would prove more exciting than mass heel-to-sky kicking and shenanigans. I love it when I'm right. ;-)

mother and daughter battle for who's 14.3 hh is taller

Scrappy and Rambo love camo

I got photo evidence of what I thought I was seeing growing in herd body cues over the last week. Rambo bossing mini king Napoleon! Gooo figure. Look at the casual herding walk he has going, what a joker :-)

 Rambo did try to boss me for carrots/feed this week, pinning his ears when I approached with food, but he's so sensitive that a sharp word and claiming step forward into his space had him all cute and apologetic again. Apparently he found other outlets for his growing confidence. You're welcome, Napoleon! *snicker*