I’ve said many times, “not my circus, not my monkeys”, but I’m not so sure about that.
There are days that I feel like I live in a circus or zoo. A three-ring one at that. I can’t believe the stuff that goes on around here. How boring it must be for people who don’t have what I have. Some days, however, I would like to try boring. Just for one day. Or maybe a vacation. Either way, if you keep an open mind, it can be very entertaining, except when you are tired, at the end of your rope, and someone pushes your buttons one too many times.
In the movie Forest Gump there is a line that says “Life is like a box of chocolates.” Well mine is full of nuts, and it’s rubbing off. I have the biggest assortment of clowns who are in disguise as horses. (By the way, I’m not fond of clowns. They frightened me as a child and it’s still there in my mind.) But I love my horses.
My old horse Desert was a clown. He always made me smile with his silly ways and expressions. Yes horses have facial expressions and they are very good at reading yours. Not my words, but studies have been done recently to back that up. I miss him so much, but even looking at pictures of him brighten my day. Now I have a whole barn of assorted nuts.
Nut number one. My Zoey. She’s really a very quiet, stays in the background kind of horse, until you walk in the barn and you are met with a whinny and the pee pee dance. Zoey doesn’t like to pee in her stall, and you have to take her out to pottie. Just like a child, left foot, right foot, back and forth, bouncing her head, swaying. Let her out she runs out into the field not far from the gate and you can hear her go ahhh. She sat on the rope the other day that I keep across her stall door. The clip snapped with her big QH butt, and she was free. She knew she’d be in trouble so she went and stood next to Fridays door waiting for the consequences of her actions. Now she had the opportunity to leave the barn, go and annoy the other horses, go into the dogs stalls, or the best, the feed room. I leave the door to the feed room open with the fan on to keep air flowing. Not one bucket of soaking Beet Pulp was touched, which was right on the counter by the door. Nor did she go in and open the tops to the cans with all the sweet feed and help herself. The bags of Beet Pulp which were against the wall were not bothered, she just didn’t go near there at all. Sweet girl.
Nut number two. Friday the Grinch. Ears forward, ears forward, ears back and snarl, repeat. She was the princess to her last owner and doesn’t like being just one of the herd. She looks like she would eat you up in a heart beat, but she’s just conveying her displeasure of not being number one.
Nut number three. Copper the worrier. He’s the sweet boy. Shy, timid, had been abused in the past. Turn him out with his best friend and this 26-year-old pussy cat becomes “Copper, King of the Wild Stallions.” Rearing, biting legs, spinning to kick, just like in the movies. Speak his name and he drops back to the sweet innocent puppy dog. Walk away and he and Lou go back to their play acting routine.
Nut number four. Lou the bad boy. He’s like your typical angelic child. Sweet expression. Gives you hugs, and then a nip. His head shoots up in the air waiting to get reprimanded. He’s a nudge. Always into something. He got yelled at for kicking the wall when he eats. So now when you turn your back he still taps it with his foot, Then looks up as if to say “who did that? not me, it was him next to me, he did it.” I shake my head and say it was not Copper. Then Lou will say “then it had to be Cory, because I didn’t do it.” And as I walk away, tap again comes from his stall. He has to have the last word. He just wants your attention. Like some children, even negative attention is appreciated. I smile as I walk away.
Nut number five. Sky the quiet one. He’s the least of my clowns. He looks like the poor old soul that you just want to feel sorry for. Until you come at his face with anything, even a wash cloth. Then it’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The sweet, poor me innocent turns into Conan The Barbarian. “I can take anyone on, just try me.” Oh my! Not one of these horses like getting the Flu Internasal, but Sky really insists that anything to do with his face is off-limits. We are working through this and he even let me worm him several weeks ago. However, flu is coming up in September and we’re back to square one.
Which brings me to nut number six. Cory aka Coronado. Now I’ve been in the business for fifty plus years, but I have never seen a horse who begs for treats like this one. He sticks his tongue out and flaps it in your face. I was told about this when he came in so it didn’t come as a surprise, but Cory thought I wouldn’t understand his gesture so the first time, he was facing me because I was going to remove his halter, he picked his head up so we were nose to nose, and out came the tongue and he kept flapping it at my nose. You can’t help but laugh, and he will keep it up until he gets a treat. Did you ever see those old movies where the inmate will take a tin cup and run it across the bars to get someones attention? Well Cory will take his upper lip and run it back and forth across the bars in his stall. I felt bad that he would hurt his upper lip so I gave him a “Sunny D” jug and sometimes he will run that across, but he prefers using his lip.
Nuts seven and eight are really no problem, I don’t spend enough, one on one time with them, and they seem really sweet and normal. That would be Diva and Mimi. I guess they just haven’t been at this funny farm long enough to join in the fun. But then maybe the craziness down by the barn hasn’t made it to the hill yet.
This wasn’t a very informative post, but sometimes girls just want to have fun. Just gives you a little insight as to why I’m like I am. I guess it speaks to how I allow the horses on this farm to express their whole personalities. They’re happy and having a great time, wish you were here.
