and our nominee for today....T Bone

Is it a bird…..is it a plane….. NO !!! its Super T Bone !!! T Bone is an equine antique, a four legged wonder. T Bone the big old bay gelding is 30, that’s about 90 in people talk and T Bone thinks he is 15….sometimes ! The average life span is 24 so the old guy is apparently well past his sell by date but we are happy to say that Mr. T Bone doesn’t look like he is ready to check out any time soon.  As the barn door opens and the first light of day floods the barn ( or the cold blast of icy Winter) T Bone can be heard, louder than the chorus of sheep, louder than the loudest rooster, louder even than the bawling cows. His big brown head can be seen peering around the corner of his stall checking progress of the breakfast service and his piercing whiney can even make the sleepiest of us move just a little faster. You have to be fearless to be the provider of the breakfast bowl too…..a very fast transition from bucket  to feed station is required as T Bones head, teeth bared and ears pinned back lunges. There is no intent to have us for breakfast…it’s just a T Bone thing ! Greg, a lover of all things Science fiction has been heard to comment that the usually benign old man transforms in the presence of food to the “alien” entity. From barn athlete at feeding time, our geriatric wonder horse reverts to a wobbly staggering rocking horse for grooming. As T Bone wavers around on four unstable legs, we try to brush his still shiny brown coat whilst warily watching for any sign of an impending collapse. With his butt jammed into the corner of the stall the old horse tolerates the grooming process…just. It didn’t take too long for T Bone to realize that the grooming brush and me usually means a carrot titbit and, having surrendered to being temporarily tied his head  can apparently twist a full 180 degrees to check my pockets for a treat. T Bone and Cooper are only here as a Winter “guests” and we will be sorry to see them return home in the Spring.

Michael and Andrew our current WOOFERS are here until the end of the month and are getting to experience the best of the worse of farming as the Winter sets in. This morning through the darkness we can hear torrential rain falling over the valley and we know that at least some of the day’s challenges are going to be weather related. It would appear that mud is THE most satisfying medium for a good healthy dirty roll and the horses appear to revel in getting a good, solid, all over, nasty mud bath. Starbuck the black Appaloosa with no spots and Cooper the younger of our two old men came in from the pastures with every spot of non rug covered horse coated in a thick coating of the disgusting dirty wet goo yesterday and it was our unenviable chore to try to find the horse under the mud masks !

The chickens also make the most of the puddles and mud. With clean fresh water always available the ladies find the most nasty murky hole to bathe in before they retire to the nest boxes and roosts to wait out the Winter storms.   

Well, time to go and find the water wings and snorkels, if this rain continues four legs will become redundant and we will be needing flippers and fins. Another day begins. Take care, keep safe and dry, M