Remy And Blue, Miniature Horses

Some estates have marble statues of lions on either side of their doors, but I have Blue and Remy to grace my barn door:

The grass was slow getting growing this year but Blue and Remy were determined to snip off every little green blade:

And they are nearly always together:

Remy and Blue were wrestling and the cows watched, unsure what was happening - or perhaps they wanted to be sure it wasn't going to involve them:

Remy seemed to have grown taller since I got him. I measured him the other day and he has grown 2" at the withers since I got him, growing from 36" to 38", the upper limit for miniature horses:

Blue grazed while two cows tried to do likewise. It's easier for horses to snip of short grass because they have both top and bottom teeth:

Blue did a bit of fancy strutting:

Blue had several episodes of morning lameness which, it appeared, was from locking stifles. So I quit putting them in their stall each night and allowed them to stay outside all day and night (with access to the barn). That way, they'd get more exercise and strengthen their muscles. This was one of their last nights in their stall:

They do love to run and play, but they also know how to be lazy, luxuriating in the sun:

The ground beneath him had been warmed by the sunshine and Blue was a happy boy:

Spring Romp In The North Field

This blog post was reserved for pictures of the first calf of 2016, but I'm still waiting for the calf to be born, a full week beyond its due date. I'll post pictures of that later, after if happens. But we had a lovely spring day and I took the dogs for a walk across the north field, a wonderful adventure in itself and worthy of a few happy pictures:

I've seen at least four Meadowlarks flying around this field and have found their nests before, so I hoped I might see one today. Alas, I never did although the dogs found lots of small items of interest. I suspected that most of them were imaginary, but they made the dogs happy:

We made our way slowly across the field, the dogs stopping to sniff things or to scan the distance:

Fergus alternated between running ahead like a deer or tagging along at my feet, hoping to keep me happy:

When we reached the fence at the far side of the field (the electricity was turned off), I turned right towards the gate:

I opened the gate and we all dropped down into a gully full of weeds, headed through a narrow strip of woods with another hay field (most of it not mine) just beyond:

I stopped when we got to the creek, but the dogs found it extra fun, and the source of a good, cool drink besides:

But it was time to head on back to the house, so we climbed up out of the gully and back through the gate (which I closed again after we passed through):

Seamus struck a pose to show off his newly svelte body:

While Jack and Daphne went after a Woodchuck which had had the effrontery to dig a hole in the field:

The barn and the farm house were just ahead of us and I began to concentrate on keeping the dogs with me instead of bolting across the gravel road (not that there is much traffic):

It was a spur of the moment mini-adventure, but I returned home with five very happy dogs: