hobbyhorse23
Well-Known Member
Ya'll guessed it involved a little redhead.
You were right.
Ya'll guessed it involved me.
You were right.
Raftered Hearts TNT (aka "Pyro") has come to Free Spirit Farm for summer camp!
Liz has been threatening to send him up to my house ever since his first show both to give his big brother, mom, and poor abused Gramma Pony a break and to give Kody someone to play with that's his own size and every bit as rough as he is. We didn't really have our pastures fenced for containing more than one mini so we reluctantly let it go all winter despite Kody's boredom and Pyro's need to get away from the milk bar post-weaning. We weren't really going to do it after that because hey, show season is coming and what do I know about halter horses or weanlings??
But when Kody's stifles started getting worse again from lack of daily strenuous exercise I gave up and called Liz and asked how she'd feel about loaning out a certain redhead for an extended play date and she didn't hesitate.
That was the evening of Friday the 7th. On the 8th we bought fencing materials and completely redesigned and rebuilt our turnout areas for the first time in 20 years (bless my dad!!) and a week later Liz delivered Pyro at Happ's after the ADT.
Kody and Pyro have had great fun playing at shows for the last year and continued to get along well for the first few hours of being stalled together at Happ's. Pyro would get up to his aggressive tricks and Kody would cheerfully give him as good as he got right back until Pyro finally figured it out and backed off a bit. Yay, Kody!
Unfortunately when we came back from dinner later in the evening either something had happened or Kody had had enough and we had to separate them as the Sr. Redhead had Pyro trapped in a corner and was doing an admirable impression of a cutting horse in keeping him there, ears pinned and all. 
OH! Poor Pyro! Kody was clearly jealous of me spending time in That Other Stall but didn't seem to hold Pyro personally accountable as long as they weren't forced to share a space.
By the next morning they were both fine and Pyro loaded right up for the trailer ride to Centralia for Kody's surgery. Liz REALLY puts good manners on her horses; Pyro's in the midst of a silly jumpy stage but when asked to go first into a trailer he's never seen he didn't even hesitate and literally jumped in. We quickly loaded Kody before Pyro could panic and headed down the road. Thank God for the wireless camera system I reinstalled for this trip- 15 minutes down the freeway I look in the monitor and Pyro has reared up and gotten his forelegs through the divider bars up to the shoulders!!
He got himself free by the time I pulled over and raced back there but we were both a bit shaky after that.
After an interlude at the vet's and another two hours home I got Kody settled in his recovery stall to both his and Spyder's mutual satisfaction and went to get Pyro.
The Jr. Redhead had been screaming back and forth with Spyder (who wanted Kody and looked quite startled at the clearly Not-Kody replies he was getting) and whistled his arrival as he trotted across the yard. To my surprise Spyder looked interested but chose not to move from his injured buddy's side at the barn and instead waited for Pyro to come to him. Greetings all went well and uneventfully so after walking the fenceline we turned him loose. Yearling colt + too much time in a stall + long trailer ride = Yeehaw!!
Pyro is not at all intimidated by Spyder and to my surprise the stern old gelding is acting quite paternal with him, rebuking him quickly but appropriately for transgressions but otherwise watching him indulgently and easily accepting his presence. Spy has never been one for babies so that's surprising to all of us and is fun to watch.
The three of them immediately settled into a pattern of standing together by the gate to Kody's recovery stall and companionably playing like things have always been this way. Pyro takes off now and then to bolt around the pasture but always comes back and is picking up Kody's habit of imitating whatever Spyder's stance is at any given moment so they're always facing the same way and resting the same hoof. It's so cute! I wish he and Kody could be turned out together as planned but for now he's keeping Kody busy and entertained through his convalescence so it's still a good thing he's here.
Pyro will be getting clicker trained and lots of one-on-one time to improve his basic skills while he is here so he will hopefully go back to Liz in as good a shape as he came and with a few more big-boy tricks to show off. (A few more nick-names too...Mom prefers to call him "Junior" and Dad immediately dubbed him "Hotshot" as a play on his fireworks-inspired name and because it rhymes with "Lil' Snot." I personally call him "Sparky" when he starts getting uppity!) Right now he's merely settling in and learning the routine while Kody gets over his surgery so in a few days both of them will start back into actual activity. I've got plenty of pictures so I'll post more on the Photo Forum in the next few days. Meanwhile I'll leave you with this bit of cuteness to make up for taking so long to reveal the secret:
Peekaboo!
Leia (and Spyder and Kody and Pyro, aka the Three Amigos)
You were right.
Ya'll guessed it involved me.
You were right.
Raftered Hearts TNT (aka "Pyro") has come to Free Spirit Farm for summer camp!
Liz has been threatening to send him up to my house ever since his first show both to give his big brother, mom, and poor abused Gramma Pony a break and to give Kody someone to play with that's his own size and every bit as rough as he is. We didn't really have our pastures fenced for containing more than one mini so we reluctantly let it go all winter despite Kody's boredom and Pyro's need to get away from the milk bar post-weaning. We weren't really going to do it after that because hey, show season is coming and what do I know about halter horses or weanlings??
That was the evening of Friday the 7th. On the 8th we bought fencing materials and completely redesigned and rebuilt our turnout areas for the first time in 20 years (bless my dad!!) and a week later Liz delivered Pyro at Happ's after the ADT.
Kody and Pyro have had great fun playing at shows for the last year and continued to get along well for the first few hours of being stalled together at Happ's. Pyro would get up to his aggressive tricks and Kody would cheerfully give him as good as he got right back until Pyro finally figured it out and backed off a bit. Yay, Kody!
OH! Poor Pyro! Kody was clearly jealous of me spending time in That Other Stall but didn't seem to hold Pyro personally accountable as long as they weren't forced to share a space.By the next morning they were both fine and Pyro loaded right up for the trailer ride to Centralia for Kody's surgery. Liz REALLY puts good manners on her horses; Pyro's in the midst of a silly jumpy stage but when asked to go first into a trailer he's never seen he didn't even hesitate and literally jumped in. We quickly loaded Kody before Pyro could panic and headed down the road. Thank God for the wireless camera system I reinstalled for this trip- 15 minutes down the freeway I look in the monitor and Pyro has reared up and gotten his forelegs through the divider bars up to the shoulders!!
After an interlude at the vet's and another two hours home I got Kody settled in his recovery stall to both his and Spyder's mutual satisfaction and went to get Pyro.
The Jr. Redhead had been screaming back and forth with Spyder (who wanted Kody and looked quite startled at the clearly Not-Kody replies he was getting) and whistled his arrival as he trotted across the yard. To my surprise Spyder looked interested but chose not to move from his injured buddy's side at the barn and instead waited for Pyro to come to him. Greetings all went well and uneventfully so after walking the fenceline we turned him loose. Yearling colt + too much time in a stall + long trailer ride = Yeehaw!!
Pyro is not at all intimidated by Spyder and to my surprise the stern old gelding is acting quite paternal with him, rebuking him quickly but appropriately for transgressions but otherwise watching him indulgently and easily accepting his presence. Spy has never been one for babies so that's surprising to all of us and is fun to watch.
The three of them immediately settled into a pattern of standing together by the gate to Kody's recovery stall and companionably playing like things have always been this way. Pyro takes off now and then to bolt around the pasture but always comes back and is picking up Kody's habit of imitating whatever Spyder's stance is at any given moment so they're always facing the same way and resting the same hoof. It's so cute! I wish he and Kody could be turned out together as planned but for now he's keeping Kody busy and entertained through his convalescence so it's still a good thing he's here.
Pyro will be getting clicker trained and lots of one-on-one time to improve his basic skills while he is here so he will hopefully go back to Liz in as good a shape as he came and with a few more big-boy tricks to show off. (A few more nick-names too...Mom prefers to call him "Junior" and Dad immediately dubbed him "Hotshot" as a play on his fireworks-inspired name and because it rhymes with "Lil' Snot." I personally call him "Sparky" when he starts getting uppity!) Right now he's merely settling in and learning the routine while Kody gets over his surgery so in a few days both of them will start back into actual activity. I've got plenty of pictures so I'll post more on the Photo Forum in the next few days. Meanwhile I'll leave you with this bit of cuteness to make up for taking so long to reveal the secret:
Peekaboo!
Leia (and Spyder and Kody and Pyro, aka the Three Amigos)
