Monday, April 15, 2013

Happy Birthday Cash & Reddums! (Or, how to host a horsey birthday party)

This week, Cash turns 25 and Red turns 20. In honor of their somewhat impressive ages (especially given Cash's myriad ongoing issues), I decided that if I was ever going to host a horsey birthday party, now was the time to do it. So we invited our horsey neighbors and riding friends over for a cookout and some very silly afternoon fun.

Did anyone else have/attend birthday parties as a kid where you played the traditional party games? Well, at this party, the horses got to play the games!

First up, we had a pie eating contest. The "pies" were chopped apples sprinkled with oatmeal and drizzled with a bit of molasses. Oberon, who is apparently part goat, won this contest in approximately 1.3 seconds.

Imagine a hoovering sound with this picture.

Just to be certain of his victory, Oberon also tried to eat the plate the pie came on. Here hubby and TD are trying to pry it out of his teeth (they were successful).  

 Then Oberon finished off Echo's pie, since apparently baby racehorses don't eat apple pies.


!?!?!?!?!?

Next up, bobbing for apples! 

Oberon was a natural at this as well, and did not let the water up his nose deter him in the slightest.

Red was slightly more skeptical.

Cash decided that such games were entirely beneath his dignity and opted not to play.

And finally, the absolute silliest game... the carrot-and-stick races. Yes, we literally tied carrots to sticks and then timed the boys as to how long it took them to get to the finish line. You were not allowed to touch your horse, call him, or make any clucking or kissy noises, you could only use the carrot to lure your horse forward.

Taran was not about to move his feet to get the carrot, but instead stretched as faaaaaaaar as he possibly could (note the hind legs).

The "nose wiggle"technique was also popular, to try to snag the carrot from midair.

Here's a short video of Red demonstrating how it's done:


Also, I am pleased to announce that ECHO FINALLY WON A RACE! That's right, folks, Echo won the carrot-and-stick race. This is even more odd because he's still not 100% sure he even likes carrots, but we're working on that. (And sadly, there was no photographic evidence of his victory, but there were lots of witnesses. Yay Echo!)

After the festivities, we had a brief photo shoot:

MC with the birthday boys.

Fuzzypony with Taran.

Me with Echo the EAdorable.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Schpotted Pony and Reddums the Feerless War Pony!

25 comments:

  1. Aw, so sad I missed it! Echo's self esteem is going to improve in leaps and bounds now that he has a victory behind his name :)

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    1. Haha, yep, the prestigious 2013 Carrot-and-Stick Cup. Who knows what he'll accomplish next!

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  2. This is absolutely adorable I love it!

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    1. Thanks! We had a great time and it was really funny!

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  3. What a great idea! The pictures are too cute.

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  4. Awesome! We may have to pinch some of these games to play at this years' RRR :-)

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    1. Nic, I highly recommend it! It's really funny to watch what each horse does. If you come up with any other games, please share! We were going to try to play pin-the-tail-on-our-neighbor's-donkeys, but we couldn't figure out how to catch the donkeys. Oh well!

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  5. Sounds like a lot of fun! Pass my congrats on to Echo, the first win is always a milestone :)

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    1. Echo says thanks. He's going to work on the pie-eating for next year. :)

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  6. Oh my girls would SO have owned your boys in the carrot stick race!!

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    1. It's funny that a lot of the horses really don't "get" the carrot-stick race. You'll have to try it with your girls and share, though!

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    2. Immy would probably be scared of the stick... P and O would be knocking each other out of the way to see who could mow me down first!

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  7. That is an awesome idea! At the end of the horse camp I attended every year as a kid we would let the horses bob for apples. It was always a lot of fun.

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    1. It's pretty cute, especially when you have horses who really like apples!

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  8. What fun!!! And just too cute for words.
    It boggles my mind that most baby TBs don't know what treats are.
    As one who has now 'trained' two baby Tbs to eat treats.... stick a piece in their mouths and hold their mouth shut. Suddenly treats will make sense. Haha!

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    1. Having seen how baby TBs are treated on the track, I completely understand why they've never had a treat. Echo does actually eat carrots, as well as alfalfa cubes, but he's still very tentative about the whole business and really not certain it's worth all the fuss!

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  9. Happy Birthday Cash and Reddums!

    Those games are hilarious! I think it is funny that Oberon tried to eat the plate.

    I am pretty sure that all I would have had to do is stand behind the finish line with the carrot and Harley would have come trotting over. He already checks the picnic table and lesson horse treat bucket without prompting.

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    1. You should definitely try the games at your barn! Although, it sounds like Harley would have an unfair advantage, lol!

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  10. That looks like it was a lot of fun!!! Happy Birthday to them!

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    1. I think a good time was had by both horses and humans!

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  11. Happy Birthday to Cash and Red! Looks like you guys know how to throw a party! :)

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    1. Well, you know how the boys are a bunch of party animals and all... ;)

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  12. Wonderful idea! Those games were awesome - I could just hear a professional commentator speaking in the background:

    "And in the stretch is Taran! Wait, actually Taran is stretching..."

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    1. BWAHAHAHA! I love the announcer idea! That would be awesome!!!! "And it's Taran... WITH A NOSE!" Heehee!

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