April!

I can feel my spirits going up as we head from March to April. And the horses definitely have the smell of grass in their nostrils; it's so funny to watch them as I take them outside and they take great big inhalations of the air.

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous, sunny and in the 60s. I left work a few minutes early so that I could get to the barn and let them have some outside time. Jodi had gotten there just before me, and was taking Dude out to put him in Ben's field while she rode. So I grabbed Bestie and put her in the drier of the front fields.

I don't know how many times Dude dropped and rolled ... probably four or five. He'd get up, shake, then start staking out his next roll spot. Needless to say, he was quite a mess when I brought him in. They got about one and a half hours outside.

Today I went to the barn early because the forecast called for torrential rain and heavy wind as the day progressed. I turned Bestie out, then took Dude out to graze on the lawn. It was an experiment to see how they'd do separated, since they have this annoying buddy/buddy thing going. They did fine. Only one whinny from Dude when he spotted Bestie in her field, and she didn't even look up.

He probably ate for about 40 minutes, then I brought him in so that I could do their stalls quick. I put him in Bestie's stall, which kept him busy munching her leftover hay, as well as being able to check out Red and Solstice when they would wander in from their paddock into their stalls right across the aisle.

Then I took him up to the indoor and let him loose. I thought he'd go nuts and run around, but it was a roll and stroll non-event. After rolling, he just walked around sniffing everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, then he visited all the mirrors and checked himself out. After about 10 minutes he came over to where I was sitting on the mounting block and started nosing me. I tried to get him to chase his Jolly Ball, but he wasn't interested. I kicked it around and he watched me with an "I don't get it" expression. It was a pretty low impact exercise session for him.

I left the barn around noon, and it never did really rain.

Tomorrow we've got a barn meeting at 10:30. I'm hoping the rain continues to hold off so they can get out. April showers...