Better to be a smart-ass than a dumb-ass!

Ok so there were a ton of brilliantly coloured birds around today -- mostly cardinals and blue jays. Was amazing to watch. Didn't have a good enough zoom on my camera for good pics though :( A shame cause it was pretty incredible.

So had a run-in w/ a real smart-ass today. His name is Higgins, and he's a mini-donkey who lives w/ Smokey. Well Higgins does NOT like it that I take Smokey away. Usually he tries to get in my way while I go to get Smokey and then haunts the gate till we get back (Smokey, otoh, couldn't care less about Higgins -- poor guy). Anyways -- Higgins today instead of following along behind, ran ahead and stood in front of the gate. hahaha perfect solution. Can't open the gate to take Smokey out w/ him there or he'll leave too and he simply wasn't about to move. Would've been quite the entertaining standoff if not for the fact that Smokey is higher in the pecking order and shoved poor Higgins out of the way! hahaha

So on a completely unrelated note -- typed this as part of a very silly waste of time on Facebook, but I'd be interested in hearing other people's take on it, so figured I'd repost it here... Really should refine it before reposting, but that's just not going to happen. Feel free to skip this paragraph if you just want horses! hahaha still with me? Ok -- here goes . . . I firmly believe that Facebook and other social networking sites are significantly changing our culture. Everybody growing up with them, becomes part of a "small-town" mentality -- regardless of where they actually live. Just think of it: the small town, where the news of Joe and Suzy breaking up flies around the town in seconds; where the kid you went to kindergarten with will be at your university graduation; where if you're having a bad day, lots of people will know -- and more will try to help... The kind of town that is thought of a cliche now, that all us worldly people are so far beyond, has gone virtual. People I went to kindergarten with -- and haven't seen in decades -- will send a smile if I'm having a tough day. I know which of my highschool "gang" married their highschool bf/gf -- and was happy to see it, even though I haven't seen any of them in person since senior year. Friends from a trip to Australia years ago, remain friends in ways that snail-mail could never allow. N, well, you get the gist :) Thoughts? Wow that one was long. hahaha

And back to the horses -- the key to riding Si is simple -- exhaustion. hahaha poor girl. Apparently running around as though she were being chased by demons for an hour two days in a row leads to a fairly tired pony. She was quite willing to walk today and let me work on stretching and bending *yawn* rather than just running around in circles :) So basically I have to hack her for miles and miles and miles until her maturity matches her fitness. Once the world's not quite so exciting, she just might be a very kewl horse! Sorry Mary -- looks like I have another one who'll do dressage much better after her gallop sets! hahaha

Ok off to feed the critters. I do love the country at night -- but I have to admit, reading a crime novel right before going out to feed is not the *best* idea in the world. At least not if you have a reasonably vivid imagination. Guess how I learned that lesson *sheepish grin*