Rapper and his mini-me

Just had to post really quickly about Rapper and Lex.
Lex is the weanling colt at our barn who was born in June and for the past few weeks, Sarah and Laura have been turning him out in the arena with Rapper for company. Rapper is small, has always been turned out with other horses, and does not wear shoes so he's a safe friend for little Lex. Also, while Rapper is easy going and very social, he does not tolerate nonsense so he is a good one for Lex to learn manners from - it's good for him to learn he has to be respectful of both other horses and people.
The first time we turned them out together, poor Lex was TERRIFIED of Rapper and Rapper just stood with this bewildered look on his face like "what did I do? I just wanted to be friends..." Until last night, I hadn't seen them turned out together since again, although Sarah assured me they'd become buddies.
Well darned if they aren't the greatest little duo! Lex is Rapper's shadow, wanting to do everything Rapper does. They raced one another down the long side of the arena, they inspected the cavaletti stored at the other end of the arena - and when Sarah and I went out to get them, they did the cutest thing; I called Rapper to me first and he came moseying down from the far end of the ring - taking his sweet time. I lightly slapped my thigh and said "c'mon, let's hustle please." He IMMEDIATELY picked up a trot and headed right over. When he got fairly close, I lifted my hand and said, "that's good, bud." He dropped right back to a walk and stopped in front of me, politely as you please, ready to be taken back to his stall. Lex mirrored him exactly. It was so cute! And when we led them in different directions to go to their respective homes (at opposite ends of the barn), Lex hesitated for a moment, like he didn't want to leave his friend.
I'm really happy that my little guy is able to be such a good buddy to Lex. I know that Mike and Mollie take a lot of pride in the horses they breed and that Sarah is totally devoted to the horses she trains and it means a lot to me that my little Arab gets to help bring up one of their babies. I hope this can be Rapper's job for many years to come!