Critter Tales: the Joke's on me!

Today's Critter Tale is brought to you by the one, and only, Lad.

Now, before I get to his story let me tell you a little bit about this gentle, lovable stallion. He loves his blanket on a cold wet day and the farrier, to have his hooves done. He doesn't even need to be held, and when he gets his new, shiny shoes, he lifts his hooves to show them to you and races around the corral and out to field to show you how fast he can run. He loves to be cuddled, scratched and massaged and will point to where he wants the scratching. He will even lift his legs to help you, kind of like a giant pup does. When you do something that gives him pleasure, he yawns and rubs on you.

He comes to the fence corner over looking my yard and stares into my house until I come out to talk to him, or better, come to love on him.

So, having said that, on with the story.

Yesterday afternoon, was warm enough to take blankets off for the afternoon, so my friend, and his owner, did so and asked if I would blanket later in the evening. No worries! So, come evening, I went up and Laddie was standing in the corral, going out to pasture. I asked him if he wanted his blanket on, that's usually all it takes and he comes into his stall. Well, not today. So, I just went and put Passion's blanket on and figured I'd give him a minute. Of course that takes me a bit, as I have to stand there and love on her for awhile, and then Buddy, and Scooter and of course Tanner too... you get the idea. So, after making rounds I get back to Lad's stall and...

he

is

still

not

there!

I'm grumbling now, so I go to look out the door and into the corral. He is at the far end, by Scooter, who is his buddy and he isn't budging an inch. Matter of a fact, he is nodding at me and yawning. He wants me to come to him!

FINE...

So, I get his blanket, which I will add weighs a good ten pounds and half drags on the ground. I get it all organized so all I have to do is slip it over his head and clip on the straps. No worries, right? Well, let's not forget that the mud I have to wade through is shin deep and nearly sucks my boots off, and if you walk along the fence, well

you run the risk of falling into the hot fence! So, slow caution is the thought process here, thus my grumbling. I don't usually operate too well in slow gear, hehe. So, I make it out to Lad and he rubs and loves on me most appreciatively and I open the blanket up for him to dive in to, which he usually does. But no, not today. He simply turned and walked away!! Leaving me standing there like a blanket bound idiot, standing knee deep in mud! I had a few words for him, took a deep breath and followed after him back to his stall. What else can I do? At least now he is in his stall.

When I finally make it back in, he has his head low, giving me love looks and yawning at me, because he's cute. He knows I'm not at all amused and he rubs and loves on me and even holds his nose out willingly for me to put his blanket on. He is still yawning and smiling at me and of course I can't be mad at him when he does that. lol Tanner, our 30 year old, is standing there nodding and chuckling at me. I think he was in on the joke too.

(Yes, that is my hand in there. You can see, just from that, I have to reach up to him. I love him to bits!)

When I told my family about this, they got a chuckle out of it and my daughter reminded me that it was April Fools day. So, you can see that animals DO have a sense of humor and know what they are doing. This time the joke's on me.

For my friend, this was priceless. She laughed so hard, because she knows what a prankster he can be. :)

Hope you have a great weekend

C~