critters critter-ing

It's been such a weird time around these parts, guys. I'm spending as much (or more) time at the barn as ever -- and honestly really enjoy that time. It is a little monotonous and uneventful, tho. 

charlie likes chatting with the shetlands during hand grazing

At a certain point, if you've seen one photo of Charlie hand grazing with cute shetland ponies, haven't you seen them all? Mebbe lol. At least they are still, in fact, very cute.*

(*Except when the breeding stallion gets loose and the barn yard erupts into chaos while we try to corner and snare the wild and wily little micro beastie before he can reach the promise land lolol.....)

my sweet goofy pony, standing like maybe his feet are sore.... 

Anyway. I thought we had maybe accidentally stumbled on the perfect antidote to Charlie's persistent lameness --- tell him I bought a second horse lol. Charlie was suddenly all sorts of hyper and eager and wild seeming, like a horse that very much wants to go out and do things!

sometimes i sit on him too while we spy on shetlands 

But, eh, I dunno. I'm pretty certain his feet still hurt. Or something hurts. I dunno. Esp now with a date set for Mondeuse to come home, I've been trying to log more consistent time in the saddle -- even just walking and/or sitting, ya know? 

just charles bein a horse with his new bff pony, spirit

Bc let's be real, Charlie's not the only one wildly out of shape at the moment haha. And I'd like my first sit on the freshly off-track TB to be unremarkable no matter what she does lol.

in other critter news, remember royal?! hopefully starting to see light at the end of his long long road to recovery

But even after just a couple days in a row of easy walks around the xc fields, Charlie seems to be standing a little parked out again. 

mikey, makin sure we do a good job cleaning out the trailer!

And ya know. It's still disappointing. The farm where Charlie lives just held their annual recognized event, and the N course looks like legit play for Charlie. In another day and age, I'd be plotting our chance to rocket around after the event, or maybe we'd even be riding in it. And go figure, the ground conditions right now are so perfect -- a rarity in summer for us. 

being the barn snoopervisor is a tuff gig

But oh well, right? It's just the natural cycle of horses, I think. Like our good friend Royal, above, who was basically completely perfectly sound always and forever, right up until his own significant injury. I was shocked to learn it's been a year exactly since my friend last sat on him... 

lol at the tumbleweeds of michael floof

And you all will remember our other buddy, Punky, who spent the better part of a year out of regular work bc of some sort of mystery ailment. And after months and months and literal thousands of dollars in diagnostics, with no stone left unturned, that ailment remains a mystery even as the horse has basically returned to normal work.

oooh, and two more critters!! my niece and nephew's rats, eating birthday pie <3

So, we carry on with Charlie and his own ailments, and hope for the recovery to continue, no matter how long it takes. 

And in the meantime, the countdown clock has started for Mondeuse's arrival. It's possible that maybe another horse is just consignment to a fate of more of the same... But I'm letting myself feel a little hopeful that maybe, just maybe, I'll get to start riding again ;)