Grass is much greener on the other side of the fence!

The yummy grass has been buried under a blanket of cold white stuff, in like forever. We’ve been confined to the back three sections of the farm for most of the winter. Last week the snow disappeared, but there wasn’t a blade of grass to be found.

I guess that’s why my human dad has been throwing us some hay when we are turned out.

Mud! Churned up mud is easier to run and play on that the frozen rutted turf. Anna and I are having a good time splashing in puddles and rolling in the mud. We wandered back to the work paddock behind our cozy warm barn. We nibbled at the sparse blades of grass along the edges of the fence. I stretched my head through the middle and bottom boards and munched as much as I could reach.

 Four month old Bella & Anna 10/25/11

            Anna has a much longer neck and could reach more grass than I was able. For those of you who may not know, Anna is my foster mom. She’s a Quarter Horse about sixteen hands tall. Yours truly, my name is Bella by the way, only tops out about thirteen hands. Well…heck, I won’t be a two year-old until the end of May, but I doubt that I will ever be as long and tall as Anna. I’m a Haflinger.

I was getting frustrated, and tried to reach a bit farther as we worked our way down the fence line. Pop! Crack! The boards gave way to the pressure that I applied with my chest. Whoopee…there was much more grass on the other side. It didn’t seem that we were on the new grass very long when a neighbor driving by tattled on us.

She and our human mom came after us with lead ropes and a bucket of sweet feed. I just can’t resist that tasty grain mix. Humans are tricky. I was snared in two shakes and my lead handed to the helpful neighbor lady while mom went to get Anna. Darn it, she took the bucket of grain with her, and Anna had her face in the bucket pigging out. Mom made a comment to her helper, “let me lead the older horse first, and Bella should just follow.” They passed me up! Anna went first with Mom and the yummy grain bucket.

I can be a bit much for a beginner or a non-horseperson to handle, so it was easy to escape the tentative hold the helper had on my lead. You bet! I was in hot pursuit of that grain bucket. Mom was leading Anna into her stall when I whizzed by with my lead rope dragging the ground. She closed over Anna’s door then picked up my lead to guide me to my box. The helper had caught up, and she said something about my getting the better of her. I got the remainder of the grain dumped in my feed bin, and Mom threw us some hay.

Dad came back from a trip to town right after we were confined again. He was not happy with our escapade, and I tried to look real innocent like I didn’t know whodunit. He didn’t buy my act and mumbled something about electrifying the fence. I asked Anna what that was, but all she did was give me a horselaugh. Doc is still out at a boarding stable, so there’s no one else to ask.

We didn’t get to go out the rest of that day, or at all the following day. The first thing I did on the third day when we went out was to run over to the point in the fence where we had broken through. Large metal panels line that whole section. It was the same stuff that the round pen was made of, and I knew from experience that it would hold. I think that I messed up by heading right to my former escape point. Dad was watching me and sure didn’t look happy.

 Summer 2012 Bella & Cali

            We aren’t allowed out whenever the folks have to go to town, anymore. So our time outdoors is much shorter, until they get the electric up. I still don’t know what that is, but Anna says that I will find out real soon.