10/30/07

Mandy's Surprise

Mandy's Surprise really was a surprise. Carolyn had been very concerned about Mandy's health, she had frequent bouts of diarrhea, and was often pretty listless. We had the vet out several times, but I didn't worry overly much as Mandy always had clear eyes and the same sweet disposition. On the evening before I was to fly to Holland on business, I went out -- as usual -- to bring the horses into the barn, feed them, and settle them down. For the first time, they weren't all waiting at the gate for me. It was dusk and I didn't even see them out there. Finally, everyone came trooping in, except Mandy. OK, well, better bed these guys down first and then I'll go look for her. It was almost dark by the time I got out into the south pasture and I finally saw her, over in the far west corner, and staying there. As I walked closer, I could see why, there was a large grey dog, or coyote, or wolf, keeping her from leaving the corner. A little closer and suddenly I realized, "hey! That's not a dog! It's a foal!" OK, NOW we see why she was "sick"! Time to have some fun!! I walked back to the house and went inside to tell Carolyn I needed her help, I was having a problem getting Mandy to come to the barn. I went out and got the golf cart out of the garage, and Carolyn came out putting on her jacket and cap. I turned the lights on and we drove out to the barn and into the south pasture. I could make out Mandy's form slowly starting to walk back our way and headed over there. As we got close, Carolyn suddenly saw the 4 grey legs on the other side of Mandy, and said "what's the heck is that?" We got a little closer and she suddenly realized what it was .... a mini-mini! Of course, I'd already said, "You want to raise horses and you don't know what that is??"

Surprise isn't quite as easy to pet as most of the others, we didn't learn that a lot of touching and holding is a good thing when they're young. He's always curious and will come up looking for a treat, but he's not as easy to get on a lead and generally resists (a little bit) while being led. He's a pretty happy little fellow, though, in HIS pasture in the back - as long as Suzy is keeping him company. Unfortunately, he does think he's superstud and has managed to get into Moondancer's pasture and mix it up with him. Several times, he's really tied into his father ... but most of the time, his sire manages to win the battles. I've had to add an extra electric fence wire between their pastures to stop rematches! And when that wasn't enough, I finally split the fences and ran 2 fencers to make sure there was enough of a shock to discourage wandering.