APRIL (?) has arrived; Henry meets a new riding friend

April First brought the most remarkable fool's day joke, or should I say, surprise in the way of walkways, perennial beds, and pasture pathways completely free of snow....even on the NORTH sides of our house and property. I honestley do not remember the last spring when the snow was clear before the beginning of April.   For others in the greater geographic area, April brought devastating floods and resulting damage, we were incredibly fortunate.  

For our part, the streams were flowing strong, many of them having reached flood capacity, but none of them an immediate threat.  As time passed, we would learn that none of us in our town were to worry.  Thank Goodness!!!!

April 1st also brought Henry face to face with his new human riding buddy, Nancy.  As always, Henry was very, very excited to meet a new friend, and then he found out that Nancy would be a riding buddy as well.  Could life get any better?  I think not.  Nancy came late up to the barn on thursday evening.  Not any time left to ride, but we could certainly bring Jody, the horse, up to the barn for brushing and general meet and greet time.  After we left the barn and returned home to Henry, he was sooo verrrrry excited to smell the horses on Nancy.  Henry's enthusiasm was a close second to Nancy herself when we all left for the barn the following Saturday.

We took a long ride down through some very deep woods that we have come to call the Trollwoods, after some woods on an Island in Sweden the I walked in many times when I was much younger.  The woods here in Franklin County look as though there could be all kinds of little trolls, fairies, and other woodsy creatures hiding in all the fallen trees.  Lots of mud, vernal pools, mossy rocks, and new spring growth added considerably to the overall sense of mystery.  Henry could hardly contain his enthusiasm as we marched into the woods with all his favorite Buds; Colleen, Lilly, and Getty, Nancy and Jody, me and QTee, and Henry's mother, Sally.  He raced around the horses, people, and Sally like a wildman chasing and being chased by Getty.  Sally remains way too dignified for such behavior.  I think (hope) that she is trying to model a more restrained approach to a long march through the woods to the younger, more impulsive pups.

Eventually even Sally couldn't resist the temptation when Henry flushed out a HUGE turkey from the underbrush.  Off the two of them went, hunting in tandem; fortunately for the turkey and for the rest of us, the turkey made a daring, but sucessful escape flying up towards the tree limbs.

Over two hours later, back at the barn, Henry almost begged me to put him into the car so that he could lie down on something soft and collapse.  Another lesson not yet learned about pacing oneself.  Once again, Henry put whatever iota of energy left into his evening walk, and came home to absolutely pass out for the night.