Miniature Horses and Canadian flora...

After picking up Bert and TC from the Kicking Mule Ranch we headed out to one of C's friends who has miniature horses. She'd never been to their house before. It was so funny when we were driving there because they told her to turn on XX street and their house would be the first on the right. Well, we drove for miles without seeing a driveway. It was a straight up forest with a road in the middle. We finally saw the first driveway and headed in.

C's friends are this older couple who live on this big property. Their kids are grown up and married. It's just them and their horses and dog. This was one of the miniature horses; it was a male.

He had the male separate from the other female horses. I love how it's mane has that flat-ironed emo hair look.

A snowball flower cluster from one of their trees.

Here was another of their minis. I believe it's name was Bella. This was the "mother" horse.

Their dog was so funny - it was so excited to see guests and kept running around barking. It had a huge cowbell around it's neck so it also made a lot of noise!

In one of the nooks of their trees was a mother duck protecting it's eggs.

As you got closer to it, the duck would hiss angrily. I could swear I saw the anger in its eyes! If you moved any closer, I'm positive the duck would have attacked!

Beyond the fence of their yard were cows from their neighbor's property.

Here are the female minis together. The smaller and darker horse was the "baby". TC really enjoyed seeing the horses and petting them. They are not meant to be ridden on. Bummer. I would have wanted to see that.

More of that snowball flower tree:

White peony:

A lady slipper orchid:

We stayed for about an hour and chatted with her friends. They were both super nice. The gentleman enjoyed showing Bert his maple syrup making equipment. I know that C and her husband make their own syrup as well. It's a lot of hard work just to make a tiny amount! Turns out a lot of people on the island make their own maple syrup.

It's such a different way of life here. So much slower paced. People aren't rushed to do anything here. I think I would go nuts! There's also a lot of open and unspoiled space. Now that is really great to see. No high rises or condos or pollution. We saw so many kinds of wildlife on Manitoulin and were just thrilled to have met these folks and their unusual "pets".