Peter--Days 19, 20 and Beyond

Well, day twenty was no magic number for Peter, but he is continuing to become more relaxed at the arena and more willing to slow down. He's responding well in a thin snaffle bit and his rider was able to have a lesson on him with her riding instructor and everyone felt it went really well. So I will leave him to his rider now, which means I can turn my attention to my own horse, Kasper, who I've been itching to ride.

So far, I've spent some time doing ground work with Kasper, getting him used to me as the leader again after the winter off. I've ridden him around in the corral and pasture and soon we'll be going out on the trails when I have someone to come with me. Kasper really needs a confident buddy along on the trails. After he bolted home with me for the second time last year, I decided not to ride him on my own until he's more confident.

Here's Kasper in the bareback pad. This is one of Glenn Stewart's bareback pads. It's amazing. The suede holds you on like epoxy.

Red and Sid. Red is two weeks older than Sid, but he seems way bigger! But having never had cows before, we're not sure if Sid's a runt, or Red's a giant? We're hoping giant, otherwise we may have trouble selling Sid at the bull sale next spring.

Sid tasting the rake handle which he spent a good long time with.

Sid.

And this little guy is a vole, eating up some spilled oats. We have billions of voles here. They build tunnels out of grass under the snow in the winter, so in the spring, as the snow recedes, you see all these grassy vole highways and hide-outs. We have mice and shrews here at our place, but they're rare compared to voles.