10/30/07

Dancer - April 2003

Dancer continued the tradition ... of being born while I'm traveling. Surprise arrived just a half day early to actually start the tradition ... I was already packed for a 2 week trip to Holland. Dancer was born on the day I started my first tour with the new Goldwing ... I believe I was somewhere in Kentucky when he arrived. He's turned out to be the friendliest of our "babies" as each was handled, petted and made a fuss over more than the last. We've learned that the more time we spend with them, the easier they are to handle. As a matter of fact, Dancer is quite the pest, always coming back into the barn to see if there's another treat, or just to see what you're doing, or to get brushed. This extends the time it takes to clean out the stalls each morning, but it's pretty hard to get upset with him - he's quite endearing.

Unfortunately, he seems to have thrived a bit too well. He's gained a great deal of height in the past 6 months and now is several inches taller than his mother ... and taller than Bear and Suzy too - meaning he's going to be in the upper range of the 'B' class. I guess we'll just have to cart train him and just consider him a permanent pet - not a terrible fate for him.

Apologies for the pictures. It seems as though it's the same as parents -- you take a lot of pictures of the first, less of the second, and few of the subsequent offspring. I'm updating the albums and adding new pictures -- the lack of 'baby pictures' makes us realize that it's something we need to find time for. We remember the early days, but it's hard to convey to others what it was like. Future little ones can look forward to having the flash blind them frequently.

At 2-1/2 years old, he's turned out to be, sadly, the tallest of the bunch. He's perfectly symmetrical ... but tall ... towers over his mom and dad. Gentle as heck with us, but can get scrappy with the other horses. Due to the friction, I had to create another pasture and start segregating everyone. And now poor Mandy needs to be penned up in the corral to keep Dancer away from her. Carolyn is thinking that he's the first one she needs to trade off, but hasn't been in a hurry because he's such a "sweet" guy (her words).