We chose rejoice.

The first thing Brian said to me on Monday morning when the alarm went off was, "Today is your big day!" Monday was the first day the boys were going to be turned out in their new Paddock Paradise pasture. The photo, above, is out of order. This was actually taken after they were out for a few minutes, but I thought it was special, so I put it first.

Here they are asleep in their shed before I turned them out. Sovereign and I had a lovely ride around the farm and inside the pastures earlier in the morning. He was very alert in the pastures even though he has ridden in that area a thousand times before. It must have looked different to him because of all the clearing the wonderful fence men did for us. Sovey was good, though, and I am glad he had a preview of coming attractions!

Here they are when they first entered the long narrow part. They were not really grazing, but more smelling the ground. Brian had come over from our house so he could see all the excitement. I was worried that there wouldn't be any excitement at all!

Earlier I hid "secret treasures" all around the pastures. There were hay flakes and grain in bowls and apples. It was fun to see them discover all their treats. Here they are munching grain.

And they are off trotting to the next treasure. I love how this photo shows that Sovereign's winter coat is so much darker than Pie's. In the summer they look like twins. Pie is a dark bay, but Sovey is brown.

Pie is very worried that Sovereign is finding a treasure without him here!

And the grand finale...the apple tub! Yummy!

This is a nice shot of why I put the fences up to begin with...SHADE! We desperately needed shade in the pastures and these hayfield inlets are wonderful for protection from the summer sun and winter winds.

Finally the horses were able to get down to serious grazing. I only allowed them out for 1 hour on Monday and 2 hours on Tuesday and 3 today. Our grass/hay isn't lush, but it is new to them, so I want to take it slow.

This morning (Wednesday) I am so happy to report that my dear little Pie-Pie was back to his calm, steady self out on the trail. We had a perfect ride over hill and dale and even on a new trail that the fence men made for us. Hooray!

Here my mom and Brian and Eby are resting in the shade after watching the boys in their new pastures. My mom was very kind to give the horses all the new fencing - thanks Mom! We added 2700 feet in new pastures which more than doubles what the horses had before. Our pastures are divided into different areas that wind around the property from barn to ring to shady apple chute to shed to sunny chute to another shed to a big open paddock and back around to two shady hayfield inlets. The idea is that the horses will want to move from space to space to nibble grass and hay and salt and water and apples and rest in their sheds. I am so happy and satisfied with the results.

The fence men opened trails on the outside of the fence so we can still ride in that area on the right of the pasture in the shade. On the left, there is a long hayfield stretch in the sunshine.

Eby likes the pastures too!

I am going to go missing the next week or so on a mini vacation from the blog world. I took this semester off from teaching so that I would be around for Maizie's transition into middle school and also so I could be around when the horse fence was being built. Now, I need to ride and rest and run and regroup. Take care, all!