Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Who Are The People in Your Neighborhood?

Bif's Mom commented on the last post that she was confused as to who my "human staff" is. We've got a lot of new followers so I thought it might be a good time to stop and introduce everyone so you can keep them straight.



This is "Mom". She's in charge around here.

She takes care of me from dawn until way after dark. She makes my hot beet pulp, makes sure I always have plenty of hay and dry bedding and brings me lots of goodies. She likes to garden so we get carrots and pears and things like that. I even took her for a little ride once. But mostly, she waits on us hand and hoof. All day long, every day. She contributes many of the photos here.


This is Brita. She is Mom's daughter. Does that make her my sister? I don't think so.

She is my BFF! Brita is the one who got me started blogging and helps me edit my writing. She doesn't live here but we see her about 4 times a week. She brings a lot of supplies and toys, and does my grooming. We go riding a lot! She is the only one who has ridden me since I got here when I was two years old. Except for that one time when I took Mom for a ride.

This is Uncle Dad. I used to call him Uncle Dick. Then he married Mom so I changed it to Uncle Dad. Everyone else calls him Richard.

He is my friend. He does all the hard work around here. He likes to farm and has a tractor and other equipment. I think he planned on using them for his cows, but it seems that us horses require a lot more work than the cows do. He cleans our stalls, brings the hay from the hay barn and does the grounds maintenance. Sometimes he brings us our food but he does not give treats and a half empty hay net does not seem as dire an emergency to him as it does to me! Sometimes I have to bite him to keep him in line and remind him that I am more important than his casual treatment of me would indicate. He also talks to the other horses too much. Hairy is his snitch and tells on me so I get blamed for a lot of the maintenance that has to be done when it isn't entirely my fault.

But we all try to be nice to Uncle Dad because he does lots of stuff for us. Here he is this summer trying to keep our pasture (and barn!) from flooding. That tractor comes in pretty handy. Between mud and snow and stall cleaning it gets a lot of use.


And finally, this is Tim. Tim is Brita's husband.

Tim only shows up when there is a big project to do. When Tim shows up with tools, we know there is going to be a lot of noise and disruption. But he does bring treats. And he doesn't even make me earn them. And he likes to play ball with me, so I consider him to be a good friend too.

So that is my human family. I'm a pretty lucky horse to have all these people at my beck and call all day. Of course, it does take a small village to manage all of the things I need doing all the time, and I appreciate all they do for me.

4 comments:

Pony Girl said...

Thanks for introducing us to your friends and family, William P! You have a very handsome crew and it appears they are wonderful people that take good care of you and the premises! ;)

Kelly said...

William, you have a lovely staff, make sure you treat them right.

Re: Spanish walk, has your BFF human asked you to do it while walking? Most people teach it from a stand still to get the height, but to get the freedom, I find walking next to helps. Even if you only get a few steps.

SmartAlex said...

Re: The Spanish Walk. We have standing still pretty much down pat. We are working on walking forward while cueing just one leg. Change sides and repeat. 3 steps is pretty standard. Last week we got 5 in a row! We may touch on this topic in the near future. I tried it with a surcingle and side reins on Saturday, and it all went out the window!

Bif said...

Hey, Grey! Could you send some of your staff my way? Mother is too diseased to be of any use to me... she has flu/rhino. I guess she forgot her vaccines? Anyway, please Send Help!