Farewell, July. Welcome Augustus!

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

I once read that horses have prehensile upper lips. Just like a monkey tail!!?? I thought this was so strange and amazing. Ever since, I have loved to watch Lilly gobbling grass because she is so discriminating at what fronds she wants to eat. But she eats so fast, I never get to see any prehensile action. So this weekend, I enlisted my camera to help me see it.


At first I just got dozens of normal looking pictures. So I kept snapping.


I got a few weird prehensily snapshots!


Just think of all the little muscles hard at work in that upper lip, feeling and sorting and picking! It's almost as good as having little fingers in there.


When I'm not staring at Lilly gobbling clover, we have been out on the trail. With all the rain and clammy weather we've been having, there has been no shortage of mushrooms on the trail. I think these guys look like visitors from another planet.


Brandon scolded me for not bringing this home home to eat. But really, a harvest of one mushroom?


Well, this one is not one you'd ever want to eat! There you see Lilly waiting patiently for me down on the trail while I rush to document the first Destroying Angel I have seen this year.


We kept ambling along the River Trail. Lilly is going so great now that she has shoes back on. Last weekend I ended up getting off of her and walking the last 2 miles of our ride because her feet seemed to hurt. I mean, I never really know if she's slow because she wants to be back with her buddies at the barn, or if something is wrong. I have to intuit what the heck is happening. This ride though, there was no crabby reluctance to go anywhere. So I am convinced my hunch last weekend was correct: ouchie feet.


Miraculously, I spied this little guy in the leaf litter as we were passing by!


A wood frog!


 This is another miraculous observation! I saw this mushroom MOVING as we went by. It just so happens that a busy beetle was underneath it, having a mushroom feast! The interesting thing about this mushroom is that it has been parasitzied by another fungus. Weird...and a little gross.


On Sunday  I snapped this picture of Glitter who I find totally gorgeous. Everyone loves a redhead. Then I headed down into the round pen to get on Sophie who I have not ridden in almost a year!



 My brumby was milling around by the round pen. I could not help but notice how she had applied her own version of bug repellent: mud. Oh, she looks awful.


I didn't get any pictures of me with Sophie, I am sorry to say. It is not easy to ride a sparky little pony and snap pictures at the same time! I did however get some photos of Bill working with Willie.


What a nice gelding!



 This is what happened every time I am in the pasture and pull out a few carrots! A few donkey mouths come around, ready for a sweet nibble. I would like to nibble them up, they are so cute.


Farewell for now!

2 comments:

Melody said...

Horses lips ARE amazing aren't they!! ~ I love to watch JoJo's lip fishing around for just the right nibble!
I was wondering if Sophie was still around~ How was your ride?
Love the little frog, but I'm not so sure about the mushroom photo with the "mushroom vomit" on top! Yuk!
Lilly is so sweet to wait patiently for you while you take pictures!! Good Girl!! :)))))))))))))

lmel said...

Great shot of lips hard at work eating! Nothing like a horse kiss with those lips, right?
Is that a lobster mushroom Brandon wanted to eat? I'm always working on my 'shroom identification. Just found some groundnut this past week--highly edible tubers--will have to give 'em a try!
So many neat things to see out on a trail ride.

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