You've Got a Friend in Me

Yesterday we went on a day trip with Chris and Zoe. We had a wonderful time, but got home after dark. (Not hard to do when it is now getting dark at 4:30!) I ran down to the barn, got hay for the horses and fixed their dinners; one cup of EquiPride, a cup of Purina Healthy Edge and a cup of Timothy pellets. Mmmm-mmm!

But.... the boys didn't come galloping to the barn. How strange. Before I am even through dishing out the pellets, one is usually craning his neck over the stall door and thumping his size twos against the door. (Can you guess which horse would be so pushy and bold as to paw at his stall door demanding food; Right. This. Minute!?)

I grabbed a lead rope and went out into the pasture. What I found was so incredibly sweet, and yes,  a little bit funny. Pippin had gotten into the small area I fenced off this fall to munch on the newly grown grass. As we drove out of the yard earlier in the day we noticed that the deer had pulled down the top strand of wire. I put that on my 'to do' list. (Have you noticed how one never gets to the end of the 'to do' list when you own your own home?!) We'll blame the fence on the deer, because certainly neither one of my horses would do anything like that! So there was Pippin, pacing inside the small fenced off area. He was afraid to step back over the wire in the dark, yet he wanted to get to the barn to eat his yummy dinner. But... where was Doc? The lights from the house extended only dimly into the pasture, but I could tell he wasn't trapped in the fenced area with Pippin. As my eyes became accustomed to the darkness, I finally noticed a golden shadow, just on the other side of the small fenced area. Doc was standing as close to Pippin as he could get. He was waiting for his buddy. He didn't go racing to the barn until I extricated Pippin from his enclosure. Pippin, you've got a friend in Doc. Such a sweet, loyal friend, indeed!