Horse Play
Sometime before Christmas, Cyndie brought home a “present” for the horses. It was like one of those exercise balls that lie around unused in so many people’s basements. One night while the Morales family was staying with us, Jose and I decided to inflate it, but we didn’t set it out right away. I forgot all about it until Cyndie was taking down the Christmas tree and tidying up the house. At that point, it stood out distinctly.
Yesterday, I took the ball with me as I walked down to clean the stalls in the barn. As I approached the paddock, I set the ball down in the snow and it began to roll toward the fence. The horses had already demonstrated being on alert when they saw me coming with the strange looking red orb, but now the alertness morphed into a playful interest. I let the ball stay against the gate where it came to rest while I stepped in to clean the barn.
After a short time, I came out to find all 4 horses still standing by the gate, staring at the big red ball. That was good enough indication for me that it would be okay if I put it inside with them. It rolled downward as soon as it reached the ground and Legacy set off after it immediately.
It was a hit. I took some pictures of them and then tried to capture some action on video. What I got was a lot of fun, but it wasn’t of them playing with the ball.
To my surprise, when the camera came on, Dezirea suddenly made a bee-line toward me to see what I was doing. That distracted Legacy’s attention away from the ball and he started up toward me to see what was going on.
It was all great fun out in the bright cold sun, while the ball lasted. By the time I came back to the barn to get things in order for the evening feed, and to bring them inside for the night, I found the ball in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the paddock. It appears that one of them pulled the plug. Unfortunately, it was a white plug, so if they didn’t eat it, it is lost in the snow for now.
Looks like the exercise ball games around here will be on hold for a while.
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Relative Something 
My horse also loves to play with the ball. Here is a former post of how I introduced the ball with lots of pictures and videos! (but unfortunately in German). Now we actually start chasing it together without a halter/rope 🙂
http://lilith16.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/sinnvolle-beschaftigung-fur-und-mit-fohlen/
lilith16
January 9, 2014 at 6:15 am
That’s great! Thank you. I am at a handicap of not understanding German, but it looks good!
johnwhays
January 9, 2014 at 8:05 am
It sounds like fun, and what a funny video you got! I hope you all stay warm enough today.
Elysa
January 6, 2014 at 12:09 pm
Cyndie said the horses had frost on their eyelashes this morning in the barn. We may not achieve warm enough, but at least we have been able to avoid “too cold” thus far!
johnwhays
January 6, 2014 at 1:11 pm
Oh, so true. My house is not warm enough, but not too cold yet either. I have a couple of cats to cuddle for warmth, and I hope to do some warm chores on my mandatory day off. So far I’ve got baking, a warm load of laundry and a sink full of hot water for doing dishes on my list for today. Hopefully it’ll be a productive day inside! Sending warm thoughts to all at Wintervale.
Elysa
January 6, 2014 at 2:10 pm