This evening Bill and I were bringing in the horses. Today I let the three girls use both paddocks all day long. Up till now I’ve been the person to bring them into the barn. Today I was leading Pax up the driveway and Bill said he’d bring in the girls. I thought, “This could result in high drama.” I refocused on my current job with Pax on my right and two buckets with horse feed in my left hand. Pax would love to carry them for me…

I did my jobs in the upper barn and headed to the lower one. I was close to the northern most gate and saw Spring Song and Angel grazing. This was a bit of a surprise. Bill should have had them in quite a while ago, but there he was in the middle of the paddock heading south with Dora in tow. He announced, “I’ve GOT the ring leader!!!!”

He said a few other things, but they were indiscernable to me…probably for the best.

I caught up with him at the barn and asked, “What did you say?”

He replied, “I went to the chute between the two paddocks and called the girls. They came. I asked them to come through the chute and into the southern paddock. They did. I turned to pick up some branches that had fallen down and Dora headed to the chute, the other two followed. I placed myself in the chute, blocking them. They totally ignored me and ran joyfully, bucking and leaping into the north paddock.”

The second he mentioned picking up branches I knew he was doomed. The only way to confine those three in the southern paddock is to immediately put the rails up, blocking them.

I was not in the least bit surprised that he’d been outmaneuvered by the girls.

We fetched Spring Song and Angel and placed them in their stalls. We discussed the weather forecast, then determined which blankets to take off and replace with stable blankets. Bill said, “Angel’s blanket has a hood so that’ll be too warm in the barn.” I agreed and that’s when it hit him. “A hood! She’s a hoodlum! Dora’s the ringleader and Angel’s the hoodlum. Now, what do we call Spring Song?” A minute later he exclaimed, “Badass!!! That’s what she is!”

So, our three lovely girls who are often referred to as, “Pumpkin, Sweetie and Angel” are now heralded like notorious gangsters and shall forever be known as “The Ringleader, Badass and The Hoodlum!”