Friday started out REALLY foggy - less than a quarter mile visibility. Scary.
This actually looks clearer than it seemed when I was actually driving through it. But when I came home, the day was sunny and warm and lovely. So I decided to haul the shop vac and a hundred-foot extension cord out to the back pasture so I could vacuum up the acorns under the oak trees back there. There are so many acorns under the live oak next to the barn in the front -- the ground is COVERED with them -- that I wanted to vacuum them up from under the three oaks in the pasture so the horses wouldn't eat them all. |
Under the oak by the barn in front. |
Talk about a shock! After hauling all that stuff out there, when I got to the trees I found that there was absolutely nothing there to vacuum up. NOTHING! Duke had obviously eaten every last nut AND leaf AND blade of grass under all of those trees. Now, I did see him standing under there periodically, but I had NO idea he was clearing it out that completely! Look at this!
I'm going to call LSU first thing in the morning and get that vet out here to check both Duke's and Lizzie's teeth. For one thing, if he's going to insist on eating acorns, I want to be VERY sure he can grind them up completely.
And second, on Sunday, when Buddy saddled him up, Duke started acting like a completely unbroken horse, racing around and acting almost like he was actually going to try and throw him off!
He has NEVER done that! That is just NOT Duke. Good thing Buddy rode rodeo horses and bulls "back in the day" because he wasn't the slightest bit disturbed by it. (I sure would have been!)
The only thing we could think that might have caused it was some sort of pain in his mouth, since he was fine again as soon as the bit came off.
Here he is with Lisa behaving normally again after the bit was removed. |
This morning after their breakfast, I brushed everyone good, then turned them back out. Duke looks pretty much like he always does any time of the year.
Lizzie, on the other hand, has so much winter hair already that I could brush all day and she would still look ridiculously unkempt. Her vet suggested I shave her after she had that heat reaction last time she was ridden, but I decided not to do that until I have a chance to talk to her in person when she comes out here next time. Lizzie HATES to be blanketed, and that would be necessary if I were to shave her so I want to be absolutely sure that shaving her would be of some value, other than keeping her from sweating when she's ridden.
And I'll tell you what -- even if they're just "pasture ornaments" for the winter, that's okay with me. I LOVE looking out the back door of the living room (below), or out the windows upstairs and seeing them out there in the pasture. I absolutely love it.
The view from the living room. |
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