I just saw the strangest thing. It's just after 5 a.m., and I'm at the barns. It's a frosty morning, just below freezing, and I'm getting breakfast out to all the ponies. I do everything in a certain order, and the horses all know the routine. 

The two mares at the end of the route were in their barn with their faces just barely visible in the dim light of the overcast dawn. They watched from that shadowy place as I moved beyond their pen to finish the first part of my chore. When I turned around at the end of the line to make my way to their feeding area, there stood my most senior mare bobbing her head as if in agreement with my progress. I’m about 30 yards away from her and can tell she has something in her mouth, spinning like a propeller in front of her face. The grand lady abruptly flings her head, launching her toy into the abyss of her pen. A high-pitched screech broke the morning's silence, followed by the sound of the thing crashing into the wire fence, and then it RAN.

She’d had a young ground squirrel by the tail, swinging it around for entertainment while she waited for breakfast! It was so weird! I imagine that squirrel will never be the same.