A Mystery on the Arabian Horse Breeding Farm

There have been some mysteries here over the years I've been breeding horses. Most of the time they've ended up being more about communication between the principles here......Dave, Lindsay and me or some goofy thing an equine contributed to. They've been little things that made me go, "What in the heck..........." but nothing odd or creepy that would be until now.

Lindsay asked me today at lunch what the deal was with stuffed animals in the horses stalls. Since I've been known to give the horses odd things for toys a time or two, I guess I can understand why Lindsay figured I had knew what was happening..........but in all honesty, I had no clue.

I have to admit I did give a stuffed animal to one horse but that's been years ago. It was actually a stuffed horse and the proud recipient was Rhythm. He loved tossing that poor horsey around playing more like a puppy than any horse but it kept the colt occupied and that was what mattered.

However, stuffed animals aren't the best toy for a horse that's stalled. As you can imagine they soak up urine and get pretty matted with poop. Rhythm's stuffed horse probably died more from my washing than it did his abuse. I've never really been inclined to toss another stuffed animal into a stall...........it was just that one time............and an odd inkling at that.

I asked Lindsay for specifics about this current stuffed animal situation. She relayed to me first she found one in Tag's stall when she was cleaning. It was partially torn with stuffing emerging from the extremities. The following day a similar toy appeared. This time it was in Dancer's stall. This second creature was torn as well but Lindsay assumed the horses were the ones doing the tearing.

Right after our conversation I went out to the barn to work Gypcy. As I was bending over applying her polo wraps I spied another stuffed creature with stuffing bursting out of its extremities. I don't know about the others because those I still haven't seen but this one I found in Gypcy's stall is actually a stuffed snowman..........and it's not a snowman I've ever seen before.

Up until this time I was thinking maybe one of our cats, Jasmine or Squeaker, had gotten into some of the toys stored in the loft of our barn. Both cats have been known to go investigating only to return with some of their loot. Their really kind of silly about it acting like they caught something really special..............special to me would be more like rodents.....but those darn cats purr just like that's what they've done.

If the cats are not the culprits, which I doubt they are, there in lies the mystery. Where in the heck are these things coming from? It sounds more like a people kind of thing to me...........but WHO? It's not Lindsay, Dave or I and we don't have people coming and going.........but these things are coming from somewhere. Any thoughts?