Valentine's Day and Broken Promises

Well it's Valentine's Day and the sun even came out today for a lovely visit. Today was the day I had promised to turn Ladde out in the pasture with his herdmates...and I did for a very short time.

I fed everybody their breakfast and after a couple of hours, went out and led Ladde out into the pasture where all the horses were hanging out. The sun was out and every belly was full and all were looking kind of dozey. Things looked promising, until I turned Ladde loose...at first he was a good boy and went to finish off the scraps from breakfast (always thinking of the belly first is a common thing), but then it was like all of a sudden he realized, Hey!! I'm loose and I'm out here in the big pasture with everybody!!! WHAT AM I DOING EATING??? So, he arches his neck, drops his head and humps up his back and does the colt buck in place move (too cute with such a big boy!) and lets her rip!!! He got everybody wound up and they all started bucking and running and slipping and sliding and that's all I could take. I had to intervene. We had too much at stake here, with the expense of the shockwave treatments and all the time spent in confinement and all...there was no way I wanted to risk it all for releasing him too soon.

So out I come with halter in hand...and at first he looks at me like - I don't think so...you promised!! You know that look. He wandered away from me, but then stopped and turned around to face me and dropped his head in resignment. Poor baby!! I felt so bad for him, but it is so muddy and slick out in our pasture that even I was slipping just walking back to the barn. Sorry dude, not today; not after all we've been through to get you sound again. Sorry charlie and all that. I'm the bad guy but life's a bitch and then you die.

We got almost all the way back to the barn and I sensed a change in his attitude. So, I stop and tell him to forget about it, just be a good boy, before long the footing will improve and you can go out, blah blah blah...you know how it goes...and on we head towards the barn.

But Laddmonster had other plans ticking away in his little pea brain. All of a sudden, he does his very best at spooking, run up ahead of me and spin and face me trick!!! I yell at him and give the rope a good snap and tell him to "Knock it off!!". We resume our journey to the barn - Ladde head down and all the life sucked completely out of him. Poor guy. I felt so sorry for him. So, I let him go out in the corral and I returned out to the pasture and brought back Harley for his prison buddy. Mean old me!!! A few alfalfa cubes helped a little...but he's still disappointed, I can tell. *sigh*

Sometimes it's so hard being the bad guy. But I had a bad feeling about that pasture today and I gotta trust my gut. Drier days are a-comin'. But right now I'm feeling bad because my horse is very droopy and feels like the perverbial carrot has been dangled in front of his nose and yanked away just when he was about to bite.

Poor baby. I think I'll beg for his forgiveness in the form of treats. Isn't that what Valentine's Day is all about anyway?? Giving goodies and love noogies to the ones we love? I think it just might work...wish me luck?

How could I ever resist that sweet mug??

Have I ever mentioned just how much I love that horse??

I'm a goner.