It's rare that I can grab a shot of all seven of them!
We are all still enjoying the cooler weather. Savannah likes to come and hang out with me when I am on the golf cart.
Chevy will wait until she is gone, then he likes to come and hang out for a bit.
Gypsy and Hanovi like to hang out with me any time they can.
And the ponies are getting to the point where they want to be near me too!
They are all so awesome!
The ponies used to only come running at feeding time. Today, they had to be called three times before they came to eat. But playtime was a different story:
Being around the horses reminds me of raising children, the days are long and the years are so fast. Or at least the months are. I can't believe we have had the horses here for eight months now. It seems like they just got here in some ways, and it seems we have always had horses in some ways. Each of the horses has their own issues, and each is moving forward at their own pace. I see progress in all of them. Some of it can seem very minor to me, because it is moving along pretty slowly, but it is still there.
Bella has been working on her halter training and being more respectful so I have been spending as much friendly time with her, moving her feet around by using the carrot stick and then playing with her in fun ways. Sophie decided that looked like fun a few days in, so she usually joins us.
We spend lots of time having fun with these tubs that Robin gave us, and as long as I switch it up quite often and throw in treats randomly, Bella loves it. I stack them all different ways and move her around them and then let her knock the towers over and move the tubs around by rolling them or scooting them.
Sophie sometimes gets nervous about all of the movement but she will come back if she gets spooked. Mia would move far, far away at first and then she stuck around a bit closer and watched. On Saturday she made a big leap for her. While I was waiting for Bella to finish drinking water, I was setting up the tubs and heard someone behind me and realized it was Mia. As soon as she looked at me, I retreated and she went to the tubs to play with them until Bella came over. For the past few days, she joins right in and plays alongside of Bella.
She even tells Bella what to do at times, which Bella is not used to.
It is really neat to watch them work together to solve the puzzles, and it is incredible to have Mia stay near me for so long, while there is lots of movement and interaction.
I have been taking steps with Sophie, moving towards haltering her also. She is people friendly as a whole, so lots of approach and retreat and friendly game with her right now.
And last but not least, Savannah is working so hard to not be bracy and dominant around humans. She is seeking me out more and more, like today when I was putting out hay. I sat and just hung out with her trying to be as soft and quiet as possible and she little by little moved closer and closer to me and went softer and softer the longer she stayed.
I am so proud of all of them!
Aric and I share the same birthday, so we usually try our hardest to spend the day together. Last year he took his week's vacation and spent it with us up at The Villages. This year he did the same to spend the week with us at our new place. On our birthday, we went out to eat and then went to the movies.
Beyond that, we have just been hanging out at home. He has been spending time with Atlas.
He has also spent some time with me and the horses. Today we groomed them, and they looked so nice afterwards.
I missed a picture of Gypsy after her grooming, but here is one of her and Chevy. She has a bit of a crush on Chevy and follows him around all day long now.
The ponies are doing great. Bella is still growing like a weed. She and Sophie are becoming more and more comfortable with me. Mia is moving more slowly, but I see progress in her also.
The guys started on my birthday present tonight: a round pen! I am so excited about seeing this going up. It will give me space to work with the horses one on one.
Poor Ava and Aubi did not make it into the pictures this week, but they are both doing great too! We are really enjoying our life here out on our little piece of land in the middle of nowhere!
The ponies are settling in really well. They hang out in their herd all day long, with the exception of Bella who runs and jumps all around.
It is sweet to see them getting more used to us, and even seeking us out when we enter their pasture.
It is also sweet to see how much they have warmed up to the boys next door. They used to get very nervous when the boys hung over the fence. Now they go and rub noses with them.
We are going to start working on halter training with them and when we get our round pen, we will really start having fun with them!
I am writing this well after the fact, because going from four horses to seven was a huge adjustment. The ponies arrived on the 7th, and settled in very nicely. From left to right: Sophie, Bella and Mia.
Sophie reminds me of Gypsy, she is very food driven and if you send her away she comes right back in a few seconds. She is a sweet girl though. Mia is still very scared of people, but she is more respectful than Sophie. Bella is...well, Bella is Bella. She is a hoot to put it mildly. She plays all day long. She pins her ears at the big horses all day long. She flirts with the big boys next door moving her mouth in the way babies do to say "don't hurt me, I'm a baby".
She is not afraid of anything and is curious about everything. She tried to climb in the cart the other day when I was scooping their pasture. She loves to throw the ball and play catch with herself.
Robin brought a tub over for her that we filled with water so she could use it as a swimming pool.
Everything that happens during the day, she wants to check it out and see what is going on.
After having four strong willed horses to deal with, she has definitely brought a lightness to the place. She is quite the handful in her own ways, but she is mostly full of joyful, curious fun right now.
On the house front, we managed to get these plantation shutters up in my room. We found these at the Habitat for Humanity Restore and were tickled pink when they were a perfect fit! I love them. They give me privacy when I want it while allowing me to retain the light when I want it.
I apologize again for all the low quality pics, but I just don't seem to find the time or energy to grab the big camera right now. Life is good here!
It was only a few weeks ago that I was saying on here that four horses were more than enough. I should have bit my tongue then because we are already adding to our herd, or adding another herd to our home! In February, three ponies were added to Sixteen Hands Horse Sanctuaries list of rescues. One was a bitty baby still. We named her Bella, because she was beautiful.
The other two ponies were her Mama which we named Mama Mia and Sophie. Mama and Sophie were very thin. They were all scared of humans. As of this month, all of them had gained a nice amount of weight and Bella had really grown!
After deciding on what would be the best course of action for the ponies and what we realistically feel we can handle, we have taken on the commitment to bring them to our property. The sanctuary will handle the financial part of the ponies, since we already have four we are responsible for, and we will do the daily care for them.
A little back story on the ponies that I have only shared with a few until now, I saw the ponies and fell in love with them months before they came to the sanctuary. I saw them on the property where they lived, while looking at a house we were interested in buying, and literally got out of the car to go and look at them. Believe it or not, I do not do that. Ever. I love my horses and the SH horses, but I am not one to go gaga over horses just because they are horses. I don't know what it was about them, but I was truly smitten with them as soon as I saw them. I joked with Nathan that I wanted them, he quickly said NO and I thought that was the end of that.
Imagine my surprise when SHHS said they were going to go and rescue them and I asked if they were in such and such location and knew exactly who they were. I would have never imagined they would really end up living with us! Can't wait to get them here and learn how much different life is with a little one here day in day out.
In other news, I am still working on house projects very slowly...here is another peek at the dining room chairs.
I really wanted this house to be two things: comfy and fun. So far I think we are achieving both with re-purposed items and bright colors. Life is good!
We are all still enjoying the cooler weather. Savannah likes to come and hang out with me when I am on the golf cart.
Chevy will wait until she is gone, then he likes to come and hang out for a bit.
Gypsy and Hanovi like to hang out with me any time they can. 
And the ponies are getting to the point where they want to be near me too!
They are all so awesome!
