The kid I have taking care of Rosie the boarder gets paid in cash. This is because she is a kid and does not have a real job so she has no checking account. I take the cash and put it in an envelope on the stall. This month I had some other things for her so I put it all in a plastic bag and tied it on Rosie’s stall. There were 3 certificates, a medal, a t-shirt, and $250 in cash in an envelope. (That’s 2 months of Rosie care and horse sitting for me.)
Yesterday morning I go out there and see the bag shredded. Prize eats anything she can get her teeth on. I don’t think she had to break the laws of physics to get ahold of this bag but she had to bend them pretty hard. I swear horses have extendable necks when they see something they really want. She had to reach about 5 feet over to her left. That’s not so hard but there was an open door in her way that she had to get around too! Amazing. Luckily she only chewed up a certificate. I told her I was reaching down her throat if the money was gone.
This morning they were turned out for some exercise in the blowing cold. Spirit goes first and then Rosie. I don’t close the gate between horses because those two stay in the pasture. Today I came out with Prize and Spirit was in the yard. Rosie was hovering at the gate because at heart she is a good girl and knew that she wasn’t allowed to leave the pasture even if she really, really wanted to. I put Prize in the pasture and tried to catch Spirit. Wasn’t happening. He is a big believer in hunting and killing his own grass. Hay put out in a pasture is an abomination to him. There is no grass in the pasture but there is in the lawn. He was digging down through the snow to get the grass. With the wind and snow whipping through his tangled mane he looked just like a wild pony on the plains of Mongolia. That is if the wild ponies of Mongolia were wearing electric purple turnout blankets. And if the purple-clad wild ponies of Mongolia caved completely at the sight of a green plastic feed scoop and came running to humans to get some grain.
Prize been giving Clyde ideas again? We put a neat note on his gate ‘Please give me HAYLAGE to eat as I get a cough if the hay is dusty.’
He tore it off with his teeth and chewed it to a mess. He can’t read you see and Tilly told him it said ‘Don’t feed this pony’. Girl horses are smarter than boys.