Our family grows by 4

I have my own horse!

He's not the prettiest thing I've ever seen, in fact I think he's quite plain, but I love him anyway. Merrill thinks he's athletic looking and beautiful and in about a week I'll have him sitting in my lap.

This is how it came about: We'd started looking for a horse seriously online and by word of mouth. Apparently there are quite a few pacers in the area as there is a lot of harness racing in the area so we thought we might see about the possibility of a horse from one of them. A reject from racing. On Wednesday Wayne and I went to visit a training facility and to see a standardbred gelding, a deep red bay with a white blaze and one white sock. They were calling him 'Noddy' but he doesn't have a real name. He's a calm, gentle boy who was just too slow to race. He's 3 yrs old and already 15.3hh so he's going to grow a bit more and fill out heaps still.

He arrived here this afternoon and Wally went crazy when he heard another horse on the property. It was really great to see how excited he was.

To be safe we let 'Noddy' into the paddock next to the one Wally was in so they could touch noses and meet over the fence. We thought there'd be some squealing and snorting till they sorted out who was who and who was boss. But they got along really well from the start.

Wayne's been working on the new stable with Chris all weekend and they were out in the paddock while the boys settled down. 'Noddy' was chomping down on grass and seemed quite relaxed so Wayne decided it wasn't necessary to wait till tomorrow to let them into the same paddock.

He yelled out 'Come out! We have a problem!' and I ran outside to see this:


As you can see, I think the boys have bonded. When it was dinner time we went out together to make sure there were no problems over food. Ha. We gave them a bucket each and they ate out of the same one!

I went out tonight with a flashlight (long story) and they came to check me out - together. Where one goes the other goes.

So... why was I out there in the dark? Well... see... we had one hen right? Only the one since the dogs despatched the other 3 we inherited with the farm. And one rooster has claimed her as his own and has defended her and his territory from the plethora of roosters we share the farm with. I decided it was about time we had some more hens so I went out and bought 3 new girls yesterday. These girls are isa browns.

I had a plan. We need to lock the new girls in the chicken coop for a few days till they learn that this is home and that's where they lay eggs. Then they can free range and run amok. But if we locked them in the hen house without the black girl she'd have nowhere to lay her eggs and she'd have to lay them in the bush. And we dont want that!

So the plan was to lure the black hen and her rooster into the hen house and lock them in with the red hens. At least thats how we hoped it would work. I scattered wheat near and around the hen house and lurked behind the shed waiting, but they wont go inside! Thus there I am creeping about in the dark, spotlighting the trees to try to find the little b------ s so I can nab them and toss their butts into the chook pen!

Needless to say I didn't find them...

But back to that horse of mine. Since he arrived we've been trying to decide what to name him. I actually don't mind Noddy. Its kind of cute.

For those who don't know, Noddy is/was a cartoon character. Not that I knew him, but I do know OF him.


ANYWAY.... as I said, everyone's had a go at naming him. Names have been flying around all night. Chris is convinced that his name should be Floyd. Pretty Boy Floyd was the only concession Merrill would make to that name. Her suggestions included Radar. Wayne's suggestions included references to his boufhead, which I hope he will grow into.

I think that by general consensus, to keep everyone happy, his new name will be:

Captain Jack Radar Buzz Bug Boo Radley Floyd Ashram Brick Hawk Cesar Willie Roman Apollo

Calling him could be a problem.

Its late. I cant think of names any more so I'm hoping something will come to me soon.

z