LIGHTNING!!! THUNDER!!!! Yeah, big deal.

We had a spectacular lightning storm move through around midnight last night, right over the house! HUGE flashes! Intense, loud thunder! I bound out of bed, prepared to be chasing panicked horses all over the neighborhood. Nothing. They stood quietly in the barn, snoozing.

Ah...the benefits of living near a baseball stadium that lights off fireworks after their home games!

Another little storm woke me this morning, this one was followed by enough rain to make the windshields muddy. After a few cups of coffee, I turned out the horses next door.

The property is fenced into three pastures, the front one is a little over an acre, then middle one is maybe two acres, and the back pasture is a little over an acre, with automatic waterers.

I turned the sorrel gelding, Doodle, up front with the girls, Shyanna, Angel and Joy. The gate between the front and middle pastures was open so they had lots of space. Jazzy and Kaci were turned out together in back.

At some point, Joy got separated from the other three in her pasture. She doesn't see very well to begin with, and if she doesn't stick with them, she'd be "lost". They'd moved over to the front pasture, out of sight.

KACI TO THE RESCUE! He answered her call and she trotted gleefully over to the fence that separated them, happy to have been "found". For the next 6 HOURS, they postured and squealed over the fence at each other.

When it was time to come back to the barn, I led Jazzy and allowed Kaci to follow, after all, she IS his favorite. Joy was rather upset that I'd taken her "boy" away, and was trotting and calling for him. Though she could see him, she couldn't touch noses and squeal.

Once back in the barn, she quieted and stood puffing and sweating.