Whisper and ‘the Kids’ aka 'the Herd'

12/9
It’s even colder (-8), but turned out to be an eventful day. Samantha postponed Whisper’s training until Friday so I went up a little later and discovered that his automatic waterer had frozen. Didn't take much thought to decide whether to haul hot water or put him in with Doc & Spice who have a heater in their trough. He has moved in with ‘the kids’ for the duration. They are now known collectively as ‘the herd.’ There was initially little drama. Doc (who is dominant) approached to talk, squealed, turned and kicked. Whisper ambled off knowing Doc is in charge. Spice continued eating. Nothing gets between her and her hay. I had put out many piles of hay and it became pretty funny. Here is this small quarter horse with pinned ears buzzing around trying to keep this huge interloper from the hay piles. Whisper would simply walk away from him – he can walk faster than Doc can trot. I warned Doc that he was going to lose weight if he kept it up and left them to sort it out. When we returned a few hours later it appeared that Doc had finally given it up and settled into consume as much of the hay as he could. We fed them their grain and treats separately, put out several piles of hay and alfalfa, scratched and patted, and left them to it once again. I would have taken some pictures but my camera doesn't seem to appreciate the weather either.

12/8/2009
Today it’s really cold - -7 this am. Went to the stable around 10am to check on the horses. All were toasty in their winter woolies and blankets. Gave them each a flake of alfalfa and left them to bask in the sun.

No work today. It’s just too cold. Fed and gave them another flake of alfalfa, added some carrots and scritches and called it a day.