From the title you may have guessed that we have a new family member in the barn. As we mostly ride in the evenings and at night I have so far been unable to find out this new additions name or potential length of stay, but she has already succeeded in making her mark on us and Little Punkin Pie.
As we enter the barn, roughly 9:30 pm on a Monday night, everything is pitch black. Each of us cradling a barn cat in one hand and feeling along the wall with the other, we finally get the overhead lights on, which take a minute to heat up.
As the lights are brightening I take a quick survey of heads to make sure no one is missing and we both proceed to Jojo's stall, ditching the cats and clucking to the other horses as we go by. Just as I am about to reach for Punkin Pie's nose, my lips pursed to plant a kiss there, I hear something that sounds like a very hoarse woman say 'Ahhhhh' in a soft, gravelly voice.
My eyes meet my daughter's, both wide and startled. 'What the HELL was THAT?' she whispers, but at least has the presence of mind to look around. Not me, I'm like Jojo, I freeze in place, waiting for the noise to come again.
As Aerin is turning around, it does. 'Ahhhhahahah'.
We both speak at once.
'Is that a...'
'Where the...'
Then a huge grin spread over her face as she points to the end stall across from us, which had been empty the day before.
'MOM! Goat!'
Sure enough, I look over and there's a little head poking up through the window. A goat, well this is unexpected.
Of course we move to investigate, meanwhile every horse in the barn has seemed to have lost their senses. Most of them are pacing, Rocky, who is in the stall next to the goat is creating quite a ruckus & Jojo is screaming his fool head off, warning us of the danger, I suppose. Good boy.
Cute goat, but shy. As soon as we make friends she quiets down some and lies in the corner watching us. Excitement over, we move forward with business as planned, even though Jojo is still pacing back and forth and tossing his head like a mare in heat.
We try to lead him to the tackroom but tonight is full of danger it seems. He hangs his head, snorting at the ground and lagging behind us. Finally we get his nerve worked up to approach the offending goat's stall, which he will only do on our heels, peeking over our shoulders. Dork.
After about 20 minutes of this I finally get him to the tackroom, get him brushed and tacked up, the whole time while his nostrils are flared and he keeps trying to bury his head in my coat. Every so often there is a soft Baaaa from the ghost down the way and each time Jojo freezes. I give up trying to get him to relax with me on the ground and mount him, damn the consequences.
We get about 10 feet before he comes to a wheelbarrow that might be dangerous, here are the steps we go through.
Freeze.
Hang head.
Sniff.
Side step.
Sniff.
Sidle around.
Pass slowly.
Look Behind Us.
Bolt.
We come to the hay wagon.
Repeat.
Tilling tractor.
Repeat.
Second wheelbarrow.
Repeat.
Shovel.
Repeat.
Barn door.
Repeat.
I let him have his way for a few before forcing him to listen to me and continue riding even though the wheelbarrow could eat us at any time but every time that goat makes a noise it's like bombshells exploding. At least to Jojo.
I don't work him too long, but long enough to understand that I won't lead him into danger. I dismount, undress & brush him and start leading him around the barn again. It is then that the full truth finally comes out and I cant stop laughing no matter how hard I try.
I hand over the lead to my daughter since she has no idea what I'm laughing at. She begins to walk him around the arena and when they get to the far corner I hear her start to crack up. They come around the corner closest to me and by then we are both having a full fledged giggle fit.
Here comes Aerin, with the lead trailing from her hand then a second later here comes Jojo, head down, positioned BEHIND her and lifting his head only long enough to peek over her shoulder and then hiding again. He looked like a toddler at his first meeting with Santa Clause. I'm sure if Jojo had hands he would have been tugging on her pant leg, too.
It was possibly the most comical, heart warming thing I have seen in awhile.
She leads him over to me and suddenly Nanny Goat makes a noise and Jojo sidesteps again, moving behind Aerin and nudging her in the back, as if to say 'That's a monster, go slay it, I'll wait here.'
As a test I drop the lead line, just to see what he does. We all stand there, waiting. I suspect that the next time Nanny makes a noise he will bolt for his stall. So we wait.
Nanny picks up the cue and 'Baaaaa'.
Jojo doesn't bolt for his stall. He backs up three steps and hides behind my back, Nudging my arm until I finally put it around him. I don't normally do this because he has a bad habit of stepping on my feet, but it was too adorable to pass up.
The truth that we discovered last night?
My Jojo is actually a small child, trapped in a horses body. And sometimes all he needs is mom to protect him.
I <3 You, Punkin Pie. And I'm still laughing.
As we enter the barn, roughly 9:30 pm on a Monday night, everything is pitch black. Each of us cradling a barn cat in one hand and feeling along the wall with the other, we finally get the overhead lights on, which take a minute to heat up.
As the lights are brightening I take a quick survey of heads to make sure no one is missing and we both proceed to Jojo's stall, ditching the cats and clucking to the other horses as we go by. Just as I am about to reach for Punkin Pie's nose, my lips pursed to plant a kiss there, I hear something that sounds like a very hoarse woman say 'Ahhhhh' in a soft, gravelly voice.
My eyes meet my daughter's, both wide and startled. 'What the HELL was THAT?' she whispers, but at least has the presence of mind to look around. Not me, I'm like Jojo, I freeze in place, waiting for the noise to come again.
As Aerin is turning around, it does. 'Ahhhhahahah'.
We both speak at once.
'Is that a...'
'Where the...'
Then a huge grin spread over her face as she points to the end stall across from us, which had been empty the day before.
'MOM! Goat!'
Sure enough, I look over and there's a little head poking up through the window. A goat, well this is unexpected.
Of course we move to investigate, meanwhile every horse in the barn has seemed to have lost their senses. Most of them are pacing, Rocky, who is in the stall next to the goat is creating quite a ruckus & Jojo is screaming his fool head off, warning us of the danger, I suppose. Good boy.
Cute goat, but shy. As soon as we make friends she quiets down some and lies in the corner watching us. Excitement over, we move forward with business as planned, even though Jojo is still pacing back and forth and tossing his head like a mare in heat.
We try to lead him to the tackroom but tonight is full of danger it seems. He hangs his head, snorting at the ground and lagging behind us. Finally we get his nerve worked up to approach the offending goat's stall, which he will only do on our heels, peeking over our shoulders. Dork.
After about 20 minutes of this I finally get him to the tackroom, get him brushed and tacked up, the whole time while his nostrils are flared and he keeps trying to bury his head in my coat. Every so often there is a soft Baaaa from the ghost down the way and each time Jojo freezes. I give up trying to get him to relax with me on the ground and mount him, damn the consequences.
We get about 10 feet before he comes to a wheelbarrow that might be dangerous, here are the steps we go through.
Freeze.
Hang head.
Sniff.
Side step.
Sniff.
Sidle around.
Pass slowly.
Look Behind Us.
Bolt.
We come to the hay wagon.
Repeat.
Tilling tractor.
Repeat.
Second wheelbarrow.
Repeat.
Shovel.
Repeat.
Barn door.
Repeat.
I let him have his way for a few before forcing him to listen to me and continue riding even though the wheelbarrow could eat us at any time but every time that goat makes a noise it's like bombshells exploding. At least to Jojo.
I don't work him too long, but long enough to understand that I won't lead him into danger. I dismount, undress & brush him and start leading him around the barn again. It is then that the full truth finally comes out and I cant stop laughing no matter how hard I try.
I hand over the lead to my daughter since she has no idea what I'm laughing at. She begins to walk him around the arena and when they get to the far corner I hear her start to crack up. They come around the corner closest to me and by then we are both having a full fledged giggle fit.
Here comes Aerin, with the lead trailing from her hand then a second later here comes Jojo, head down, positioned BEHIND her and lifting his head only long enough to peek over her shoulder and then hiding again. He looked like a toddler at his first meeting with Santa Clause. I'm sure if Jojo had hands he would have been tugging on her pant leg, too.
It was possibly the most comical, heart warming thing I have seen in awhile.
She leads him over to me and suddenly Nanny Goat makes a noise and Jojo sidesteps again, moving behind Aerin and nudging her in the back, as if to say 'That's a monster, go slay it, I'll wait here.'
As a test I drop the lead line, just to see what he does. We all stand there, waiting. I suspect that the next time Nanny makes a noise he will bolt for his stall. So we wait.
Nanny picks up the cue and 'Baaaaa'.
Jojo doesn't bolt for his stall. He backs up three steps and hides behind my back, Nudging my arm until I finally put it around him. I don't normally do this because he has a bad habit of stepping on my feet, but it was too adorable to pass up.
The truth that we discovered last night?
My Jojo is actually a small child, trapped in a horses body. And sometimes all he needs is mom to protect him.
I <3 You, Punkin Pie. And I'm still laughing.
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