Unexpected Visitor

We had a very unexpected little visitor this afternoon.   The neighbour's (whom we had not met yet) little mini stallion was in our pasture this afternoon.  He created quite the ruckus with my 2 mares.   I heard a strange high pitched whinny when I was in the kitchen putting things away, so I looked out the window from the side of the house and low and behold I could see my 2 strutting around, circling the wagons, so to speak.  This little guy would take off and Izzy and Emma would charge in pursuit quickly over taking him and being very threatening.   I was worried the little guy was going to get hurt or kick one of the girls in a joint.    I totally understand mother's that swoop out onto the playground when they see their children doing something dangerous.   I took off out of the kitchen at a full run...screaming up the stairs to Chris that there was a strange horse in the pasture!
After much persuasion I was able to catch my 2 and haul them off to the barn as they continued to prance and wheel around trying to keep the little devil in view.   We caught the escapee and swapped him in and my 2 back out.   The poor little guy had a full mat of burrs for a mane and tail.   He had severely overgrown feet; he was walking on the bulbs of his heels.  I felt so sorry for this little beggar, even tho he had my 2 in a full sweat and wound tighter than a coiled spring.

I ended up meeting our neighbours.  Friendly elderly man and his Grandchildren.   Ruth apologized profusely for her escapee, whom we found out is named Duke.

Here is DH with Duke having a drink after the shenanigans show.   

That fourth strand of fencing that was being delayed because of the bush hogging just got bumped up the priority list!    Duke walked right under our 3rd strand without even thinking he was in or out of anywhere!!

We also had visitors again today!   Gerry and Betty from Leamington stopped over to see the new farm.   What a treat to have them stop in and see where we are starting.   They have known Chris since he was a baby and are wonderful Dunbar family friends.   Betty, Marlene and I lamented on moving, unpacking and trying to downsize.   We have way too much furniture now for this house...or maybe not too much but not the stuff that works with this house.   We will be editing and replacing over time and Betty gave me some good advice to live with what you have for at least 6 months because by that time you will be settled enough into a routine to know if you can live with how things are or if it just drives you crazy and you HAVE to change it.   Yep...that's advice I will take.

We had a lovely visit from Terri and Walker.   Terri came with fresh eggs from her chickens!!   Walker has grown sooo much since I last seen him.   He's tall now, where does the time go?   I had wished we had more time to visit but we were heading out for dinner with my folks.   We still got to show her around so she could see the starting point.
I keep telling everyone to give us 5 years and you will not recognize the place.   :-)

Between visits I was able to get the majority of the burrs cut out of the pasture.   They are now waiting their turn for incineration in our highly used fire barrel.  
DH and I also got the stalls unloaded from our last trailer of items from the move.   The stalls have already been re-homed to a nice local couple that are building a new barn.

Thanks again to everyone who has sent me messages and congrats on the new home.   Your love, best wishes and words of encouragement have really meant alot to me.  Love you all!  xo

I know this new journey looks like alot of work...I am not foolish enough to think it won't be.  But like the old saying goes, when you do something that you love it really doesn't feel like work.