The Boys Of Summer

My two horsey boys, Remy and Blue, don't really have any jobs to do other than to be cute and friendly, so they simply enjoy their summer idyll - or, in their case, I could also spell it "idle:"

Blue is plenty cute and friendly, but he is also shy and tends to avoid being captured. Once in hand, however, he truly loves affection:

And both boys love their bovine friends. They follow them everywhere:

Life is leisure, and leisure is life:

A brand new mineral salt block was an occasion for much interest:

I never leave the barn door wide open like that except when I'm cleaning the soiled bedding, so that's what I was doing when I snapped this photo of Blue, grazing:

The guy up the road still brings a load of grass clippings as a treat for my animals once each week. Of course they have plenty of grass, but this pile requires no grazing or picking the grass from among the sour weeds. Remy and Blue ran to get their fill before the cows arrived:

Blue, true to his nature, shied away once the neighbor began forking off the grass clippings but Remy had no such fear. He just wanted to swallow as much of the grass as he could before the big, hungry cows arrived:

Both boys like to lounge in the barn. I often lock them out in nice weather when the flies are not too bad, but give them free access otherwise. They do make a mess in there and they also chew on the wood:

They chew the wood out of boredom but I've been painting their favorite chewing spots with Ivory Dish Detergent mixed with bitters and red pepper. It has helped a lot, but not solved the problem:

Gentle breezes, lush pasture, no work to do. Life is good for a this pair of miniature horses:

Blue was the first to get his summer coat, losing all his brown hair and turning a glistening, jet black: