Last Saturday's News........... The Visit........

When I got a hold of fernvalley on the phone, they were just down the road from me. They had indeed gotten off track but had somehow managed to get righted although I'm not sure they really knew that yet. I added some details to help them find my turn and then I waited for them to arrive.

They were near 264th when I spoke to them which is just 14 blocks away. Had they been farther, I'd have gone ahead and began my work with Legs but being this close there was no point in doing that. I probably wouldn't even get the horse out of his stall before they'd be here so instead of going for Legs, I just stood in the drive waiting knowing if I didn't see them soon they'd missed the turn.

Just about the time I began to worry that maybe they had missed the turn, their car came into view. I was relieved to see them knowing they'd already had enough frustration on this trip without getting turned around again. As they pulled into my driveway, I threw open our gates and waited for them to pull in.

We went through the necessary introductions. While fernvalley and I know each other already through our blogs, Dave, Martin and Lindsay have no clue about anything much except that we're blogging friends. Considering how bizarre some people think internet friendships must be, I guess we're both very lucky our families are so understanding of our internet whims. Dave, Martin and Lindsay all took to this thing like it was a normal everyday occurrence.

With introductions our of the way, I asked fernvalley what she'd like to do. I knew she wanted to meet Legs but didn't know if she was interested in meeting the rest of the herd. Knowing they were here with some time constraints, I wanted to be sure we got done what was important to her.

Like lytha fernvalley was up to seeing the entire herd but before we could do that we had more pressing business to deal with first. You'd think introducing the people would be enough but not at our place. Both cats came out to meet our Canadian visitors and were basically throwing themselves at their feet in the driveway although Jasmine would retreat the minute either looked her way. Squirming around on their backs those silly cats were begging for attention but pretty much both were nothing but big teases and did not stick around long enough for even one stroke of their luscious kitty fur.

Squeaker did stay just long enough to be sure we talked about her. After all she is a very important fixture on this farm being owned by a stallion and all. Once she was sure she'd received her just dues of adoration, Squeaker sucked back and just followed us throughout the tour over seeing her domain. Being a cat, attention on her terms is what she seeks most so this behavior was no surprise.

The dogs would have joined us all at first meeting if they weren't stuck chained in front of the barn. It really irks the dogs that the cats get to greet visitors before them so they howled for attention. Delilah is about the most vocal dog I have ever met and she made it quite clear she was not happy to be left out. Sugar only gets going when she thinks there's something really worth making noise about and visitors not paying her attention certainly fit that category.

Leaping and barking trying to get close, both dogs were a little intimidating. Martin played it smart and kept his distance. It was Sherry who braved the ill manners of my two pooches although both of them did finally figure out if they wanted to be petted they were going to have to sit quietly. I really thought after our time with the homeless people living in our backyard they'd have gotten over this behavior but I guess that was too much to ask.

We did finally get past the dogs and actually get the opportunity to enter the first barn. There are horses on each side of that barn and I usually let the visitors decide which direction we will start. That approach led us right to Suede. Being one of Aana's kids, Suede acted like he was too stand offish to get up close and personal with visitors but as Sherry decided to move on Suede decided he really needed her attention. Funny how ignoring a horse can bring them right to you.

The next stall is Rhet and I opened the door up so that they could get a better view of him. Maybe because of the number of people in this small barn, I did not pull Rhet out of the stall like I had for lytha. For whatever reason, leaving Rhet in the stall meant they really didn't get the opportunity to see how much bigger than life Rhet really is. He was actually quite demure for the wild child I know him to be.

Next up was Storm and it was good to see that he is much more comfortable getting the door opened up for a visit than he was six months ago. While he still has some issues under saddle, the old horse we knew from before is definitely returning. Storm stood quite confidently in the doorway soaking up all the attention he could get.

Of course while we were looking at the other boys in this barn, Reflection was banging his door and trying to draw all eyes to him. The horse is never happier than when he is the center of attention so he was quite pleased with himself when we came his way.

As Sherry decided to photograph him, I had to jump in and fix the eyesore that was his bridle path. I pretty much kicked myself all through the tour because I had not found the time to get everyone clipped. I guess she's probably lucky that I didn't drag my clippers around and "touch up" every horse she photographed. You can bet I won't be passing on getting horses clipped ahead of time again. It just goes against the grain to take pictures of my babies not show groomed. Guess it's all that time I spent working in the show barn.

To be continued......................


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