Diversity in Agriculture: Snow and Hula Hoops

It snowed Friday night. 4 inches of wet, heavy stuff - the kind we usually get around here. The kind that sends trees crashing down on fence lines, causes tarp shelters to crumple under the weight and propels everyone into crisis intervention mode. We spend all Saturday fixing stuff. Thankfully, we don't have any major disasters.

The snow has pushed the electric netting, which we use to contain the goats and our two leased geldings that live with them, flat to the ground in a number of places. The horses, Apache and Bree, took the opportunity to go for a walk. Apache, not stupid, appears to have headed straight for the bin where he knows the alfalfa pellets are kept. He nosed the lid off, and helped himself. Bree is afraid of plastic bins, but found the bucket of soaked alfalfa that was going to be Apache's extra feed for the day. This could have turned into a horrible disaster but, surprisingly, the two seem to have known when enough was enough. By the time we arrive on the scene, they have left the feed bins and are having a grand old time galloping through the snow, manes and tails flying. Since they can`t really get into too much trouble with us keeping an eye on them, and are clearly not in the least interested in returning to their paddock, we let them run around while we do chores and repair damage.

The munchkins, aka Spanish Mustang foals Xeo and Xoia, are kicking up their heels in the round pen. The snow seems to have sent everyone into play mode. I toss a hula hoop into the snow just to see what they'll do with it:

They both immediately go to check it out. They sniff, Xeo picks it up with his teeth. Xoia looses interest quickly, but Xeo continues to explore this interesting new thing. "Maybe I can stick a foot in???"