Lots of Life Going On

I've not had time to post in awhile. Last weekend we went camping with another family.

The day after we got back, we had company for a few days from out of state. We had a great time with them-fishing, swimming, horse-back riding, 4-wheeling, going to the fair & having campfires.
Not only that, but it's been 4-H county fair all week. Hannah & one of her horses were at the fair all week. They performed each night with the drill team and there were 2 horse shows also.

I helped out a lot w/ the girls & the horses. The horses needed to be watched at all times with so many people walking through and petting them. Our horse, Retro(22 yr old standardbred), loved the attention, but started to get cranky towards the end).

This is Susanna in front of Retro. I cannot believe how so many people would just run up to a horse they don't know & start banging on it's head-their version of petting, I guess.
Some of them wheeled their little ones in strollers right under the horse's heads so the horse could reach them. All the horses are friendly,but by the week's end, most of them wouldn't even go up to the front of their stalls anymore.
Retro continued to, though, because he's always looking for treats. He thinks with his stomach. LOL
I had to tell one lady to leave because she smacked him in the face for sniffing her arm. hoo boy, was I hot. I wanted to smack her.
But, most people were very gentle & I heard lots of stories from people about the horses in their lives-their past, mostly. One man told me he used to be a driver for the P&C percheron horses. One man talked about his Dad's old farm & riding bareback all over the countryside.
Retro was so cute-he seemed mostly drawn to children and handicapped people. There was one man he got very affectionate with. He's not usually friendly with men. I actually got teary-eyed watching some of the encounters b/w horses and people-it was very beautiful.
Unfortunately, the last evening he was there, a group of girls were taunting him at 10:30pm (30 mins after I left) before anyone noticed it. He got very agitated & tried to bite them. He missed, but then he started trying to bite everyone that came near him. So, they tied him to the back of his stall the next morning.
Hannah didn't call me to tell me this until later in the day. As soon as I found out we went to pick him up and bring him home early.
I don't think we'll ever stable a horse (especially the young ones) at the county fair again-unless they make the stalls so that the horses can't get their heads over the door so that people can't touch them.

Now that last week is all done, we're catching up on sleep, house chores, weeding the gardens & building the riding arena. Pat & I got 2 sides fenced in so far. The kids have helped, too. I really enjoy working w/ my dh. We talk while we're working & I try to anticipate what he needs next, so he likes it when I help. The other day I was telling him how worried I am about Copper's leg & I starting crying about it. He was really supportive, gave me a hug & then tried to make me laugh by saying, "there's no crying in construction! You know how there's no crying in baseball (from that movie about a girls league w/ Tom Hanks)? There's no crying in construction, either."
I did laugh, and then cried some more. LOL