I'm not happy with how my day off spent at the barn story is going... so, here's what happened a little over a week later (last Thursday):
I'd gone over, even though K, the instructor, had cancelled our lesson that morning. I spent a good deal of time gossipping with the girls (there'd been lots of drama since I was there last), and finally got around to tacking Tico up and taking him for a ride.
It was a crisp fall day, so we went out to the back ring for a bit. Dusty and Pongo are turned out in the paddock that wraps around one side of the ring; Stoney, Elaine's old boy, is across from them.
Dusty and Pongo were hanging out by the water trough; Stoney was off away from the gate but came over to say hi. Dusty had just had a big drink and was standing there with his tongue hanging out.
I should mention: this is how Dusty drinks. He curls his tongue up and slurps water through it. He then holds the water a while (I can only guess that he prefers his water lukewarm, so warms it in his mouth) before swallowing. While he's holding it in his mouth, his tongue hangs out.
I rode Tico over next to to fence and reached over to pat his head and say hi. He greeted me, tongue still hanging out; when I didn't offer carrots he lost interest, and we moseyed along to the ring.
I rode Tico outside for a short while, maybe 10-15 minutes, then went back in. At the time I didn't notice if Dusty was still standing in the same place as we rode by.
Later, after brushing Tico, taking off his boots, cleaning his feet, feeding him carrots, etc. etc., I walked out to see Dusty and Pongo with some carrots and an apple. As I approached them, Dusty was near the water trough, it looked like he was in the same place as before; Pongo was about 25 feet away, dozing.
Dusty had his tongue hanging out - I thought, wow, he's been thirsty! I called to him... no reaction. I started to get a bit concerned: "has he had a stroke or something? Why is his tongue hanging out for so long?" As I approached, calling him, calling Pongo, he still was not reacting. I walked a bit faster.
I got to the gate, opened it and went into the turnout with them - still no reaction to my presence.
This is *really* odd: the horses all know (even those who aren't mine) that there's a good possibility a treat is going to magically appear in my hand, and they all live in hope when they see me.
Dusty just stood there, tongue hanging out. It even looked a bit dried out - we had a fairly brisk breeze that day.
So I grabbed it. I wanted to see if he *could* pull it back, still working on that "stroke" theory.
He'd been fast asleep. He gave a start, pulled away, and did a thbaw! thbaw! with his tongue. I got the hairy eyeball, and he looked at me accusingly, as if *I'd* been the one who made his tongue feel so weird.
Through all this, Pongo was fast asleep.
I started feeding Dusty carrots (carrots make EVERYTHING better), and about 30 seconds later I felt a little nudge on my back. I turned around, and there was Pongo. He hadn't woken up when I was calling Dusty and talking to him, or calling both of them, but the crunch of carrots came through loud and clear. So I gave them both some carrots, and took bites out of the apple and fed them each little bits (Dusty turned his nose up at it until I did that; little bites is all the dentally-challenged Pongo can eat).
Dusty had been turned out in his sheet, and even though the air was a bit chilly the sun was warm, so I took it off. He'd been stepping right up for his share of carrots up until then, but then when I tried to give him more (the sheet still in my other arm) he acted like I was attacking him and hid behind Pongo.
WTF??
I finally figured it out: he thought I had some idea of putting his sheet BACK ON, and he was having NONE of THAT.
Meanwhile, I realized there was a chain-clanging going on in the background; behind me, Stoney was standing next to his gate, shaking it and rattling the chain holding it closed, trying to get my attention. It was pretty obvious he knew what was going on, and his thoughts were "Hey, what am I, chopped liver?" I held a few carrots back from the two grumpy and sleepy old men and went over to give him his due, as well.
Boys!
