Two Little Horses In Their Corral

Despite their initial rebellion, Blue and Remy have settled into their new routine of days in their corral and nights in the barn:

They have slimmed down, shed their winter coats and begun to shine in the sun:

They always seem hungry in the evening and are anxious to get into the barn and eat more hay:

Of course there is not much grass left in their corral - except for that patch just above and to the left of Blue's head in this photo. I believe they won't eat it because they've been pooping there:

They wrestle, run and play - and then they nap:

And return to the barn each evening for fresh hay and clean water:

Sometimes I see them looking longingly at the green grass outside their corral, but too much of it will kill them, so I must restrict their access:

There is a nice Box Elder tree in their corral for shade and I use it to tie them to while moving them, one at a time, between the barn and corral:

Alas, I've discovered that it's a female tree and full of seeds, which are extremely poisonous to horses:

A horse woman said I'd be better off leaving the tree but providing more hay during the day so they won't be tempted to eat the seeds. Apparently they don't much like the seeds, but eat them when they're hungry and bored. If the seeds begin to accumulate on the ground, I'll leave the horses in the barn and rake them up:

She had another suggestion which I took - to enlarge their corral a bit. I moved the south fence line about eight feet over, putting the posts in the ground during the day and then moving the wire in the evening after the horses were in the barn:

You can see the strip of longer grass in this photo, though it was all eaten and the new section no longer visible by the end of the first day. But for now, the little guys are behaving well, looking better than ever and living a happy, healthy life:

Baling Hay And Cutting Flowers

My neighbor mowed half of my north field, but it was tall and thick, unusually slow to dry - so he raked and tedded the field for two days:

I was wrong when I said there had been no baby fantail pigeons to survive. I found this youngster in a nest on a shelf:

Hello, little one. Welcome to the world:

And then my neighbor and his uncle came to bale the hay. The baler has a kicker which tosses each finished bale up into the hay wagon as it is finished:

The uncle's job was to catch each bale and stack it neatly:

Being an old hand at this, he was usually able to direct each bale toward its final resting place, thereby saving himself from needless work and possible injury:

The hay dust was so thick that I itched and coughed for a day after taking these photos. I only got half of the field cut and baled, and the field produced less than expected, so there is much more haying to be done:

And the next morning, the purple Iris began to bloom:

They are indeed a flower of exquisite beauty:

The Bridalveil Spirea also bloomed:

Their tiny flowers are produced in such abundance that they are amazing:

They are also pretty, so I put some branches in a vase with those from the Snowball Bushes and brought them to church. I gave the flowers to a woman from choir when church was over: