The Prince and the Potato

It has been so awful hot and sticky around here lately. Even though it’s only in the mid-eighties, I am usually damp and miserable by early afternoon when Brita takes her lunch break and comes for a ride. We go riding anyway, because a casual stroll around the hay fields is the only way to catch a breeze, and we can enjoy the good parts of summer like the shade of the apple orchard and the monarch butterflies on the milkweed instead of just sweltering in the barn and being grumpy about it.

But when we get back to the barn I’m terribly itchy and there seems to be no remedy for it. Even a cool bath and a fan and a nice scratchy towel won’t make me happy. So instead of spending an hour primping and fussing Brita just turned me loose and let me deal with it my way. Fragrant liniments and fancy combs have their place, but sometimes it better to just stretch out and scratch. I headed straight for the potato patch.

I’ll bet you didn’t realize I was a gardener. While we were waiting for the new grass to grow in my little pasture, we planted some potatoes. Now that they’re pulled up the spot makes a great wallow hole. I don’t just grow vegetables, I also have a pretty Morning Glory on the gate post.

I rolled on both sides in the potato patch. It felt so good. It took care of all the drips on my belly, and the water creeping down my legs. I didn’t even get too dirty.

But I made an awful face when I was about to get up.

Brita came to investigate and see what the problem was, and she found this big rock.

It was a 10 pounder requiring two hands to pick up. Owie. But that’s not all. Besides the rock, there was a stray potato!

Have you ever had a potato in your bed? It’s worse than having a pea under your mattress. It gives a whole new twist to the age old problem of lumpy, smashed potatoes.

But I sure do like my little pasture

Strange Sights

Have you ever seen an object looming on the horizon and you just had no idea what the heck it was?

And the closer you get to it, the scarier and more confusing it looks? Well, horses have a lot of those moments. This thing looked, for all the world, like an alien ready to swallow me. Mom says it was a country sky scraper.

It makes much more sense from this angle, but this angle frightened me most. All that thing needed to do was make a noise, and I would have beat feet for home! It was all very tense. How on earth can your humans act calm and unconcerned in the face of a weird occurrence like this? They acted as if nothing was wrong, and actually scolded me for puffing up and threatening to run. And Brita grabbed my neck and yelled "BOO!" which wasn't funny at all.

These photos were obviously not taken on my first encounter with this creature. I think all you would have seen were photos of the sky, and the ground and my mane. And they would have all been blurry. After I got used to it being there, Brita went back to the barn for her phone. She hadn't planned on doing any photo journalism today, but this was too important a News item to overlook. This creature, whatever it is, and it's companions, have laid waste to one of our fields. They've tracked it up horrible, and stolen all the oats. We went through the field, and I looked for evidence despite the obvious risk of encountering bobby traps.

After all this excitement, we headed into the cow pasture and onto the wooded trails. And, we revisited the Grand Canyon, and it's much much larger tributaries. Luckily Mom and Uncle Dad went with us on foot to show me the way. I'm very concerned about quick sand, and if I see Mom walk across a suspect area, I know it's safe. I don't encounter any quick sand or canyons or fallen trees in my little pasture, so all this stuff is very strange to me.

We found a couple of these wild rivers with slippery rocks and actual WATER in them. I was very brave. Moments after this picture, I figured out a solution to the slippery rocks. I jumped from this very spot, landing well above the rocks and on the other bank. Mom said it was a perfect and impressive leap. Brita called me William the Conqueror and said I was bravest I've ever been. So, that was our day. See what can happen when you leave your camera at home and think you'll just take a nice little stroll on a quiet summer morning? Stuff happens!

Ummm... Bif....

I think I found what your mother is looking for.

Muphfm.....mpfftthhhh.....wffggh.....!

Distractions

Usually, when we go for rides, we're all alone. Today Face-Off was also being ridden.

It was a little distracting at first (uh oh, here he comes again)

And I didn't want to get too close to him while I was working, because he has been known to be very grouchy and try to kick my butt.

So I kept a careful eye on him, and gave him his space. (whew, he went past)


I did get a little "animated" in my canter because I was a little excited to have company. But I was very well behaved, and earned double celery!

Where do people go?

I've just been pondering this existential question. When Brita isn't here... where is she? When Mom isn't here, she's down at her barn. I can see it from here. If she isn't waiting on me hand and hoof, she's down there. If I bang on the walls and yell, she comes popping out the door to see what I want.

But Brita puzzles me a bit more. She is only here for a few hours at a time, and there can be disturbingly long gaps between appearances. And when she comes she brings a lot of food and equipment. Where does that come from? Does she make it? And if she does make it, why is there sometimes a celery shortage? How does she get my jammies to smell like flowers?

And where do the other horses go? I haven't seen Ace in weeks. He got in the scary horse transporter device, and he hasn't been heard from since. Copy get's in the transporter quite often. She goes and she comes back. Then she goes again. And comes back. Every time someone gets in one of those things it really worries me. I bang on the walls and holler and run around. Sometimes Mom puts me in my room and closes all the doors, but I can still see out my window.

Maybe Copy knows how to operate the device. Maybe she's going somewhere with unlimited clover and shady trees and carrots. Maybe the reason Ace has been gone so long is because something went wrong and he's caught in a parallel universe and can't get back. Youngsters shouldn't try stuff like that until they're older and wiser. These are the things that worry me. Maybe he's been eaten by a space monster. Every time I've gotten in that thing, I've always ended up somewhere new and strange and never made it back to the starting point. Well the last few times we've made it back, but I'm not sure how it happens so it makes me uneasy.

Showing Horses in the Heat

**Editor Interruption**

Mom said to me yesterday, as we were sitting on tack trucks eating sherbet, "Aren't you glad we aren't at a horse show in this heat?" I reminded her that the Lexington Jr. League Horse Show is this week. Not only am I glad I'm not sitting there in a heat wave (because I've experienced that joy before) but can you imagine hauling this rig all the way from California to Lexington, Kentucky and outfitting it? Even the headers were dressed as clowns! Thank God it didn't rain! Michele McFarlane always goes above and beyond the call of duty, and she has a grand imagination and the budget to back it up.

This is Michele McFarlane's circus wagon which I understand will represent the American Saddlebred breed in exhibitions at the World Equestrian Games. Michele is driving, and that looks like Don Trunk sitting beside her. Yes, I know Michele has a staff to help with these things but WoW! Just....WoW!

More photos of the Concourse D'Elegance can be found on Howie Schatzberg's site. Go to Thursday Evening Class 202 and click on any individual photo to see an enlarged version.

This is my favorite... Awesome! This is 2007 World's Champion Five Gaited horse Casey's Final Countdown who Michele imported from South Africa.

You will probably also enjoy the Four in Hand Coaching class below it.

Now I guess I'll have to check the results to see if any of Grey's brother's or sisters were showing.

** Update** Grey's big brother Preston won the Stallion/Gelding Fine Harness class. Good Luck Preston in the Championship!!

I'm Melting...melting....

At what temperature does horse begin to melt? How about sizzle?
It’s so awfully hot and I feel sticky. The flies are bitey and the grass is either dry and tasteless or wilted and tasteless.

Every one is cranky. Today Brita tied me to the wall again and attacked me with a water hose. She claims to have only wanted to shampoo my tail, but I admit I still have some trouble standing still when tied, and the situation escalated until I was soaking wet from my ears to my toes, and there was a dry, horse-shaped spot on the arena wall. Everything else in the vicinity was soaking wet.

Once I realized it was only water, I felt better about it, and even splashed it with my lips. It didn’t feel half bad. But afterwards I had drippies running down my legs and pooling under my tummy and it made me itchy and wiggly all over again. My tail did turn out fluffy and white.

Another big problem is that the wind machines are stalking me and blowing their hot breath on me every where I go. It makes me nervous.