Christmas Treats

I called US Rider for the first time on Wednesday to get someone to come and boost my dead car. Within 40 minutes he arrived and we got my car started. I drove it straight over to a local shop and had the battery replaced.

Which meant that I was finally able to head out to the barn in the afternoon. I bundled myself up extra warm - it was about -22 Celsius with a windchill of -29 (-7 and -20 F). I was just planning on bringing them in to make sure everything was good and stuffing them full of the treats I had bought them for Christmas.

I was actually quite toasty in my winter attire.

Phantom volunteered to come in first. She was nice and toasty in her Rambo, mainly because she's turned into a polar bear. She's so fluffy!

So much fluff around her ears!

I couldn't tell if she was being itchy or crabby about her shoulder when I took off her blanket.  She'll make a face when my back is turned, so I don't quite see it, and when I turn to look at her she looks completely innocent. I'm leaning towards itchy today, as she wasn't complaining when I gave her shoulder a good scratch with my fingers.

Each of the kids was getting 2 apples, 2 bananas, a pear, and banana and gingerbread cookies. The apples and cookies were safe bets, but the bananas and pears were new territory.

Polar bear cookies for a polar bear pony.

Phantom ate the first banana, a bit slowly, but ate the whole thing. Then she had her pear - that was gone in about 3 bites. After the pear, the second banana was deemed not acceptable. The barn pig ended up with it.

Apples are of course awesome, so they disappeared in about 4 bites. Phantom turns into a juicer when eating apples - you want to stay well clear of her lips.

Cisco isn't as spoiled accustomed to getting apples as Phantom is. So he eats it in a bunch of smaller bites. The banana was a flat out no-go. He took a small bite and immediately spit it out, and wouldn't touch it again. There was a very happy pig in the barn.

He was kind of funny about the pear. I think he was surprised by the taste of the first bite. I didn't think he would eat the rest of it. But he kept coming back and nibbling off a little piece at a time. Like, the tiniest bite a horse could take. But he ate it all!

The cookies were inhaled by both horses. As I expected them to be. Two chomps and down the throat.

Cisco also got some scratches on his withers, which he loves. He's going to love the grooming gloves I ordered.

That was it for my visit. I spoiled them and put them back out into the cold. The weather is supposed to change and get warmer after this weekend, but first we have to make it through Friday (the day this is being posted) - the temperature is supposed to reach a high of -27 celsius, and a low of -35. That's frikkin' freezing, and I'm not going to leave the house once I get home from work.