New Living Situation and A Handsome Gelding

I hinted a few weeks ago that the girls were moving, and so they have. Lets start at the beginning, back in July. We went on an extended vacation, and during the middle, there was a flood. Specifically into my stalls. Jellybean's stall was completely saturated while Gracie's stall was moderately saturated. Since stalls need to be vacant to dry out, the ponies got to move into the pond pasture. They were the only two horses out there, and they stayed until I got home. 

After we returned, we talked about moving the horses into a paddock instead of stalls. The catch? The paddocks were not complete yet. But there was another paddock, a nice one. Except it holds water REALLY well when it really rains. So we moved the horses into the paddock with the understanding that they would move into the completed paddock asap, but definitely before the monsoon season comes. 

And so now the horses have been living in the flood prone paddock for a few weeks. We bought them a round bale, so they can eat hay continuously now. And then we added a new man into the mix. Now before you get all fired up about us buying another horse, we didn't. Knots is going to be living in the paddock. This way, I am taking care of him in exchange for a half lease. I can ride him Monday nights, Thursday mornings, and Friday, Saturday, Sunday. This should work out well for me, as he will be available for some fun weekend jaunts while being leased out in the mornings. Maggie has him leased out to a student who wants to ride in the mornings. She should be able to give him some exercise without counteracting any training rides I put on him. Onward to the December derby :)

Nom Nom

The horses have been really funny this week with the new herd dynamic. Knots is very much the boss man. Gracie is second, and Jellybean is bottom of the totem pole. Knots only has to look at the girls, and they walk away from whatever he might want, be it grain or water. In fact, he had them eating out of one grain pan while he monopolized two. Wow. Talk about bossy. Luckily the round bale is too much trouble to run other horses off, so they should all be eating enough. Especially since they just got a bump in feed, considering Gracie is looking a little bit sad. Knots is getting the same amount as his previous living situation. And we will have to see how Jellybean handles the extra calories.