DAY 109, 110, 111, 112 & 113 - Barefoot & Bored

Possum did end up spending another night in his box stall last Wednesday. The stormy weather was just too yucky, and I knew if I didn't lock him in, he'd stand outside in it and be a freak all night. It was pretty much a repeat of the night before.. waited as long as I could, then locked him in, fed him, rubbed him down with towels and the fleece cooler, dried him off, picked his hooves, tossed in the second cut hay. Happy boy. Last year, he was really stressed about being closed up in the stall.. now it's nice to see how he seems to appreciate it. It has become a safe place for him.

Thursday morning, "day 109," Donna and I walked, but of course, no ponies. The storm had finally passed, Possum was out in the paddock munching on hay, but the road was still slippery, and the boys still had their front shoes on. Later that day, I tied him up to the tie in the paddock and gave him a good curry, hoof pick, mane comb and brushing. He was pretty relaxed and in a good mood.

Friday, "day 110," and our fingers were crossed that Butch would still be on schedule. Between the holiday, the weather and he being sick, we knew he was pretty backed up with his clients.. but our gal Luanne kept up with him with text.. she can be pretty persistent! Mid-morning, I got a message from her saying he was due to arrive at the Dodge barn between 1:45 and 2:00, and the plan was to have him do Possum first, and for me to help out with Big Mack, as Donna was 40 minutes away and may be running late. No problem!

Around 1:20 or so, I went out and caught Possum, then brought him into the stall for a quick grooming. Brushed out his tail, picked his hooves and brushed off his coat. Before leaving the paddock, I decided to pop the chain over his nose.. it had been about a week since he had been out of the paddock, and I wasn't 100% sure which pony I'd be leading up the road.

Well, he was pretty cool. We took our time on the way up, looking at this and at that.. the snow cover changes the scenery for him.. We got to the Dodge barn and opened up the barn doors, then walked into the aisle. We hung around there for a few minutes, and Possum helped himself to a few bites off of a pile of hay bales in the aisle. Then, I opened up the back barn doors and we walked down the path to Big Mack's paddock gate. Mack looked up and eventually ambled up through the path he has created in his snowy paddock, up to the gate to say hello.

The boys touched noses a few times, but once again, Possum was so much more interested in seeing if he could paw his way to the grass in the field under the snow. Plus, the scraps of Mack's hay that had blown out under the paddock fence. I let him "root" around a bit to keep him occupied, and finely, we spotted Butch's truck. Hooray. He backed down the driveway, and Possum was all high headed at that.

Once Butch parked and got out of his truck to say hello, Possum knew what was up, and we walked back into the barn. Butch worked quickly and efficiently. He likes Possum, too. Finally, Possum was barefoot again! Yea! When Possum was done, I led him into Big Mack's stall and closed him in. Then, I grabbed Big Mack's halter and ran down into his paddock to bring him into the barn. Of course, Mack had gone all the back down to his shed area..

Getting his pedicure at the Dodge barn Friday afternoon.

Then I held Big Mack while Butch clipped and filed down the nails on the outside of the hooves, then pulled the shoes off. Then, he trimmed and filed the four hooves back. Mack was very good for this, too.

Just as he was finishing up, Donna got back and came to the barn. We chatted for a few minutes with Butch, then she had to quickly drive down the hill to pick up her daughter from the school bus. She put Mack into the other stall, and we joked that the boys were looking all excited about having a slumber party!

Butch and I chatted for a few more minutes (he was telling me about a beautiful 2-year old palomino Tennessee Walking Horse he was given for free, and about how he was trying out a new training method with him), and then he got in his truck and started it up.. Just before he drove off, I noticed that he had left one of his rasps leaning against the wall.. I grabbed it and tapped on his window to give it to him. Oh boy, he was grateful for that! Then he drove off to head down to Luanne's to work on her four horses, and I turned back to the barn and waited a few minutes. I was concerned that maybe Donna might have gotten down to the bus too late, meaning her daughter would have had to stay on the bus and gone back to the school, so I decided that I would lead Mack back out to his paddock so I could take Possum home.. I was getting kind of cold!

So, I led Mack down to his paddock, and I could tell he was feeling a little abandoned by all of this.. Hey, he said, I thought Possum was moving in! I latched the gate, then realized it wasn't right, so I latched it in the other direction. As I walked back to the barn, Big Mack whinnied. I clipped the lead line onto Possum's halter and opened up the stall door and led him out. Hey wait, said Possum, I thought I was sleeping over? He stalled in the barn aisle, and I was working on encouraging him to move ahead, when I noticed that Butch had left a second rasp leaning against the other wall! Oh dear, I thought. So, I sent Luanne a text (she was still at work, but her husband was at home helping Butch with the horses), and asked her to send Butch a text to let him know. Then, I managed to get Possum out to the driveway and up to the road, not without a fight from him. He wanted to stay there and hang out! Meanwhile, I heard Mack whinny again, and I think he was pacing around his gate a bit.

Donna drove up the road with her daughter and youngest in the car just as Possum and I were getting to the top of the barn driveway, and I waved her to stop. I told her about Butch's rasp being in the barn, and I asked her if it was possible for her to run it down to him. No problem, she said, let me just drop the kids off at the house first.. just as we finalized the plan, I saw her eyes get all big and she yelled out, "woah woah woah!" I turned, and there was Big Mack, galloping up through the snow towards all of us! Oops. Guess I didn't latch that gate right!

Donna jumped out of her car, and Mack was easily caught.. Luckily, I had left his halter on. Possum, of course, took this opportunity to spin around and prance his fancy pony dance. Donna locked Mack into his stall, and I kept up with leading the pinto back towards home. He continued to jig and stall.. and Mack whinnied from the barn a few more times.. Donna drove off with the rasp to Luanne's place, and finally, Possum became agreeable again and we got back to our place. I was a little worried that Mack would try to bust out again.. but luckily, he stayed put. I sent Donna a text a few minutes later, and she informed me that Mack had settled down again and realized his fate.

Possum was a little worked up once I let him loose in his paddock again.. standing at the edge of the fence looking up towards the road.. but eventually, he settled down again, too. Poor horses. They just want the comfort of each others company. Guess I can't blame them.

The temps stayed bearable that night, and the air was calm, so I was able to leave the stall door open again all night, and he had no need for his blanket. The next morning was Saturday, "day 111," and the temps rose to the mid 30's by mid day. Possum was calm and ambled around the paddock all day, munching on scraps of hay (I think of it as him "cleaning house,") then in the afternoon, I clipped him up to the outside tie and gave him a full grooming. I took my time with the curry, and he was being very good. With the hard brush, I stroked his bum and flicked as much dirt and dust as I could off of his coat.. I picked his freshly trimmed hooves, and was happy to see very little ice and snow packed in them. I spent a long time combing his mane, which is getting very long now, and brushing out his beautiful, long tail. He was very chill.

Then, I led him out of the paddock, and off we went for a hand walk. First we went left and walked down towards Dad's driveway, but I decided it was still just a little too slippery to keep going down the hill, so we turned back towards the Dodge barn. We took our time, ambling up past the barking Newfoundlands, Sadie the German Shepard tied up at her spot in the garage, and then past the Dodge barn. Big Mack looked up from his spot by his turnout shed as we walked by. A little ways before Lenny's driveway, I heard the rumble of a large truck coming up the road. Okay, I said to myself, here's a test..

It was a Lucas Tree Company truck, and when they spotted us, they respectfully slowed down. Possum was cool, and they drove by us. Possum raised his head a bit and walked on cautiously, but all in all, he handled that like a pro. We got down to the pavement at the top of the hill, and we nosed around a bit, and stopped and checked out the views. I always think he's saying to me, "are there any horses down here? Isn't that were the other horses are?"

We turned to start walking back, and who should come back down the road but our friends in the Lucas Tree truck again. This time, Possum decided he might be in danger, so he responded by skidding around and prancing with his head in the air.. After a little spin, my friends in the truck once again slowed down, and then they even shut the engine off. So cool! We pranced by, and I joked to them, "He thinks he's a wild stallion today! Thank you very much guys!" They chuckled and said "you're welcome," then waited until we got past them before they started up their engine again and drove off.

Possum did a couple of more little spins and hops, then he settled back down again. We marched back up the hill, and a couple of times I asked him to "woah." He obliged, then we'd walk off again. He wanted to go down the Dodge barn and hang out there again, but I did not allow that. After another stall or two, we walked on, and he was nice and relaxed by the time we got back to our driveway. I let him hang around there for a few minutes, nosing at the snow, then back to the paddock we went. I turned him loose and left him with some hay, and he was content again.

I got ready for my gig, then went out and fed him his pellets, topped off his water and scattered flakes of hay around the paddock and in his stall, and then we drove off around 5:45 for our gig in Lewiston. When we got back, very late, about 2:30 in the morning, Possum was standing guard at his post in the doorway. He was very relaxed. I went out and topped off his water again, gave him a couple of cookies, and one more flake of hay. Then I turned off the lights and hit the hay. I mean, went to bed.

At 7:45, I dragged my sorry butt out of bed, got dressed and went down to the barn to give Possum his breakfast. After that, I went back to bed, and managed to get another 3 hours of sleep. I was fighting a head cold, so I wanted to make sure I got enough rest! Around 11 on Sunday, "day 112," I went out to clean the stall and paddock, and visit with Possum. He was chill. I didn't do much with him, just chatted with him. He was content when we left for our gig, and also when we got home that night.

Yesterday was Monday, "day 113," and I had gotten plenty of sleep and feeling a bit better from the head cold. I cleaned up his paddock and stall, and then got dressed and went down town to run errands. It was fairly mild for this time of year (lower 30's), and I wanted to take him out.. but at the same time, I wanted to get this Christmas tree business out of the way. So, at 3:30, I said to Don, come with me. We hopped in the Jeep and drove down to New Road, and stopped about halfway down Dad's property line. There was the tree I had been scouting out for our Christmas tree this year. Don climbed up the stone wall, though the snow, and sawed it down. Then, we plopped it on top of the Jeep, and I put the car in reverse and backed up all the way to the corner. We hadn't brought anything to tie the tree down with, so Don had his arm out the window and was holding onto it. Halfway back up the hill, though, he lost his grip, so we stopped, he hopped out, and then he got back into the car and just held it outside the window as we drove back to our driveway. It's a pretty light little tree.

Chilling out in the sunshine on Monday.

So, Possum kind of got the shaft yesterday, but he didn't seem to mind too much. At least he is sort of part of the activities around here, as the barn and his stall is so close to the house and the driveway. He is always "in the loop," so to say.

The Christmas tree