Feeding Time

Feeding time at our place is no ordinary undertaking. We have four horses, three of which are ours, two big labs, and multiple barn cats. The whole feeding routine is kind of complicated right now because we are attempting to get something green, other than four foot tall weeds to grow in our front pasture area. So feeding involves a lot of walking because we have to go to the back pasture to get the two that come up at night. When the four wheeler is working it goes pretty fast. I turn waters on, zoom out and make sure the hoses are all connected, grab one horse, lead him up by four wheeler, and let the other walk up on her own ( she is old and goes straight to her stall.) However, right now the four wheeler is dead so this means a lot of walking time. Average dry walking time is pretty quick, I can move right fast with the right motivation. But, lets forward to this week in Texas where the rain has been fairly noticable as of late. There I am in my lovely camo waders (it isn't pretty but cuts down on the messy) wading, quite literally through four feet scratchy weeds, sweltering heat, one cat that refuses to get more than a couple of feet in front of me and is also well known for plopping down right in your path, and a couple of large dogs darting in and out of the weeds. All considered I can still make fairly good time slipping and sliding my way there. Now add one little tiny girl who is desperate to help you feed to the mix. She carries the scoop with feed in it. She will not let you put it in the bucket you carry, she does not want you to help her in any way, she trips through the weeds and  spills feed out of her scoop, but refuses to move on until she has picked up what she has spilled. At last we are back on track but I have to frequently stop on the way so she can catch up. Right when you are satisfied that she is almost caught up she sees a grasshopped and more feed spills as she tries to get a good look. At last we make it to the back pasture where the other two horses stay out for the night. She insists on dumping the feed herself. The reward for doing all that work? Getting to sit on the horses back for just a few moments while she eats her food is all it takes......oh yea and knowing that momma will feel sorry for you and carry you all the way back to the house.