How do you know its Spring?

You can go by the writing on your wall calendar that states today is the first day of spring. You can go by the scheduling of your kids' spring break from school. You can even go by the physical change in the weather or the time change springing forward. I choose to listen to my animals. When the horses start shedding out their winter coats and stretching their legs a little more and being playful after a cold winter, its spring. I also know its spring when the big yellow ball comes out of hibernation. The horses were reintroduced to the big yellow ball again over the weekend. I love watching how they interact with the ball based on their different personalities. Bailey, of course, loves the ball. She thinks it is her best friend and pushes it all around the pasture, bites it, and basically won't let it out of her sight. Its even better for her if it is touching her in some way even as she quits playing with it and begins grazing. She will not let it wander too far from her. Ranger acts apathetic about it. He is only remotely interested in it. He will walk up to it, smell it, and then push it away from him. Then, he goes right back to grazing and could care less about playing with it. I think its just a front. I think he is really interested in playing with it, but he can't really boss it around like he can boss around the other horses. It just doesn't respond the same and he's a sucker for the response (the "yes, sir, you are the boss" response). Scout is the complete opposite of Bailey. She is totally left-brained, confident...for all you Natural Horsemen/women. Scout is right-brained and unconfident about new things. He has played with it before, but at my request and because I am the leader. Of his own accord, he will walk up to and think very deeply about touching it with his nose. He stands at just the right distance away...so that he has to stretch his neck out as far as he can and be able to barely touch it. In the video I took of him with the ball, he does just this. He is very cautious and what I love about the video is that it shows his ears. Throughout the process of just touching the ball, his ears are twirling every which way, checking out his surroundings, and verifying that it is safe to touch the scary, big, yellow thing in front of him. At least now, he is curious about it. Several years ago, he may well have left the planet if a big, yellow horse-eating thing was in his pasture. I can't wait to ride and play with the ball. That's next on the list for this great spring weather we are having. So glad its Spring!