That Naughty Pony

 Hey, Sophie!

Yes, Champ?

Do you wanna hear what Dandy did last night?

Sure!

Well, he opened his gate, walked right under the top hotwire, and hung out with Orion all night in the paddock!

Tehehehe.  He is so clever!

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For your reference: this is the ever rebellious Dandy, sporting his mohawk (aka outgrown bridlepath): 

And this is the gate latch style, which we'll now have to lock....

Thanks for stopping by!

Chores... During my Vacation

This evening, I had to spend some quiet time inside Grandpa and Grandma's house.  I wanted to go outside so badly, though.  There were birds out there just waiting to be pointed and chased off!

Mom thinks it's cute when I rest my chin on window sills, but she's totally missing the point.  I want out--not photographed or a conversation.

Eventually, we got to go outside to do chores.  Here, I'm helping Mom feed the horses.  By helping, I mean, staying out of the way.  I follow the rules about keeping out of the horse areas flawlessly, but I have a confession: the horses rather frustrate (and stress) me, and sometimes I bark at them when they move too fast.  (If they stay still, I give them kisses through the fence, though.)  Anyways, lately Mom has been tying me near the fence, so she can toss treats to me or putting me in an ex-pen (or house) away from it all, while she brings the horses in.

Tonight, the horses were so ready for their dinner that they ran into their overnight pens (they're only just being weaned onto the Spring pasture).  That's Dandy in the front.

Finally, before heading in for the night, we had to feed and kennel Morgan, Remi, and Elsie.  I like to supervise while Mom takes care of them.  Normally when we come visit, the others take turns inside the house overnight, but this go around, it's just Soph and me.   (I pretty much always sleep with Mom--again, she has attachment issues....)

Chicken & Tuna Snacks

It's Tasty Tuesday!  Mom loves making our treats.  She says it is usually less expensive and that she likes knowing exactly what goes in them.  My osteopathic therapist thought I was gluten sensitive, so my mom usually feeds me only grain free foods.  I don't know what she's trying to do to me, but she actually put some oats in these treats!  Mom-Fail.  Nah, I can handle it this time.  Plus, these are super yummy.

So Mom doesn't normally follow recipes.  She's lazy like that.  Of course, after making dog treats for me since I was a pup, she's got the basics down and then varies them.  This week's flavor was tuna!  It took her no time to whip it up.  She likes this one because it's so easy, and I like them because they are so smelly--good smelly!

Her recipe (yields between 2-3 cups):

Ingredients:

1 can white chicken meat in water, rinsed and drained well (or 1 c chicken boiled)

1 can albacore tuna in water, rinsed and drained well 

1 can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained well (or about 1 1/2-2 cups fresh cooked GBs)

2 eggs

1/2 cup quick oats, optional

*Process all of the ingredients together with an immersion blender or food processor.  Pat onto a lightly greased or non-stick baking sheet to about 3/16 to 1/4" thickness.

*Bake at 180-200 F for 4-6 hours, slicing and flipping half-ways through, until fully dehydrated.

*Feed as biscuits or break into pieces for training.

*Store in an airtight container for up to one week.

The dough lacks color, but it sure smells good!

Here are the treats all cooked.  By the way, Mom only uses this baking sheet for dog treats.  You can see the non-stick coating is worn off, which is why she lightly greases it with oil.

We go crazy over these treats and we all think they are pretty high value.  Usually she doesn't add any grains, but she wanted to see if they baked up better with the oats.  The result was about the same.

Also, when using canned Mom tries to opt for low sodium if it's available, and for meats, antibiotic/hormone free, organic, or preferably fresh from some local ranchers who focus on grass fed/pasture raised meats.  She doesn't eat a lot of meat herself, so when she comes home with a bag full of it, I know something good is comin' our way!

Lastly, since it is Tasty Tuesday, Mom wanted me to post this photo of the horses eating some yummy grass.  Her dad just started weaning them onto the pasture and this pic was taken their first time out on it this Spring.  They were so happy to be out there!  (Personally, I think that pasture is a waste of dog-running space!)

That's all!  Thanks for stopping by!