Morning Lights

Well first there was a pretty nice sunset last night.
It seems that it has been forever since we had sunlight!

This morning it was chilly but I walked out the the Merry Meadow to watch the sun come through the trees and shine down into our little valley.

I was pretty surprised at the amount of moisture in the air and the heavy dew.

I shouldn't have been. It was warm yesterday and the temps cooled off overnight. The morning sun quickly burned off the haze over the forest.

I love it when the trees just start to get their leaves. My husband says it is like fall in the reverse.

And the sun broke through the forest. As you can see, the undergrowth has really spurted up with all the rain we've had. Trimming along the electric fence in the Meadow will be quite the job this year.

The wild apple and cherry trees are starting to bloom. These are very old trees so instead of the wonderful blossoms we used to have years ago where the whole meadow was adorned with flowers...just a few trees have partial areas of blossoms.

The dew was quite heavy as I said and lent a wild reflection of light on all the grasses.

The Yellow Rocket seem to be doing just fine.

Update on 15. Well, she isn't as 'ready to ride' as she was presented to be, but that is no surprise and we always start a new animal out with the basics anyway.

Yesterday afternoon I took time off from other work and worked the curry comb and the shedding blade on the riding mules.

It looked as though someone had shaved a multitude of colored mules!

Today's work?
Fencing the forest pasture for the Dexters.

I do have my work cut out for me!

Gotta love that Equine Hair!

If you are an equine lover you know that spring brings out a special event that we all love.

Shedding season.  The time of year where you curry and curry and brush and brush and donkey/mule hair flies into your face and leaves you coated with it.

Truly.
You must like spitting it out and trying in vain to brush it off your clothes, the more you try and get rid of it, the harder it sticks to you.

You resign yourself to wearing it.

I took out Nikki the little donkey, she really didn't want to leave her buddies.  But she did well and let me clean her up nicely.
Then Emma [a donkey] decided she was next.  She is a pretty cream colored donkey and we went up the driveway for some halter lessons.  
She did very nicely.

Then there is Princess.  We bought her about 10 years ago.  Her first breeding resulted in twins -- we should have had her checked!  But twins are pretty rare.  Both twins died during birth and we nearly lost Princess.
That night I slept with her in the yard and laid next to her with my arms around her neck so I could feel her breath.

I was supposed to get her up and make sure she ate and drank.  By morning, you would have never known she had any problems, she wanted back in with her herd.

She is an extremely classy donkey, and we have a pretty special bond.  I've been thinking about starting to ride her now for a couple of years.
I think this spring is the time to do it.

I just have a feeling that it would work out well for the both of us.

After all, I ... don't know, she seems pretty spooky and all.

I mean she looks more embarrassed than spooked.

On I went to Opal, Fred, Dinah, and Siera.  All seemed to enjoy their first really good currying of the spring.

I enjoyed spitting out hair and watching it float in the air.

Gotta love that Equine Hair...it means shedding season is upon us, it also means spring!