November 22, 2007
Nova came home a few days ago, but since nothing major happened, I decided not to post about it. He loaded like a good boy and travelled well, unloaded (backing out!), and said ‘hi’ to Skye and Kaila. I love having the baby of the group, because he’s easily accepted and there’s no squealing or striking.

Anyway, today the farrier came out and did all four of them. Nova was the best he’s been in awhile. Thankfully his feet were in good shape and hadn’t hardly grown since the last trim. Anyway, he seemed to pay a bit more attention to Rod, and wasn’t as oblivious as he usually is. (Well, I’m happy that Rod didn’t have to get after him – though always after he does, Nova behaves much better!)

Other than that, not much to report. He just went back out into the pasture.

November 30, 2007
The other day I had a bit of a scare. Woke up to our neighbour leaving a message saying the horses were out. ACK! So I get dressed in my winter duds, went and got some oats and a halter and started down the driveway. Well, halfway down I noticed that Kaila and Nova were still in the pasture (yay!), so I locked them out back and by the time I had them out back, Skye and Rhythm had already made their way back into the yard and up the driveway. So with a rattle of the oat bucket, I got them both into the pasture and then out back with the other two. Apparently someone (most likely Skye) pushed the two top boards on the fence. This is a ‘new’ trick they’ve learned how to do in the last year or so. I guess the electric fence wasn’t working! Ah well, we thankfully don’t live on a busy road, and our horses are all very easy to catch, oh, and we have a very observant neighbour!

Anyway, not that that had much to do with Nova, but I just want to say how proud I am that he 1) wasn’t the bad one to push the boards off, and 2) he stayed in the pasture like a good boy! I think that has more to do with Kaila telling him, “If you so much as step a hoof out of this pasture, you are SO GROUNDED young man!” I bet he still listens to his adoptive mommy.

Okay, now on to what actually happened today.

I was feeling energetic after class and decided to bring him and Kaila up for their treats. Well, I haven’t done much with him in quite awhile, so… wow, he’s HUGE! Anyway, he ate his goodies, and by then I was pretty cold so we only went for a short jaunt around the yard. And I realized how much I miss just playing with him. (With him being gone so much during the summer, and then all that happened with Su, I haven’t worked with him in awhile.) He was really good, and we looked into the living room bay window. He is always fascinated by his reflection! He just stands there with his head up and stares at it. (And that’s when I realize how tall he really is! I keep thinking of him as my baby.) We then walked the rest of the way around the house – past the scary fire pit, bench, tree, etc. He looked at it all, but walked right past. I was proud. That’s my baby boy.