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murakoziA couple things that happened at the barn Sunday:
First off It was good to see that Amigo was back to his usual self and none the worse for wear. Almost annoyingly so, really. The cooler weather tends to make the horses rather bouncy in the fall and Amigo was no exception. I'm not sure what it is, but when it starts to get chilly out, they tend to be more energetic and playful...and doofy.
Most of the time, and for most of the horses, it's no problem to turn 'em out by myself. Having to hold a horse and open and close the pasture gate can be a little challenging with some of them, though. Amigo usually isn't a problem, except when he's feeling bouncy. On those occasions, he'll try to find excuses to bounce or startle. Once, months ago, I was leading him out to the pasture and his head shot up, ears pricked, and he did the whole eyeballing thing at some bushes to the left and skittered around a little. Then he reared. Fortunately, a tug on the lead rope kept him from trying to bolt. I walked him in a circle, trying to figure out what Horse Eating Monster was lurking in the bushes. Then I spotted it. A rabbit. Not just an ordinary rabbit, but a little baby rabbit no bigger than my fist that was just crouching there, trying not to be seen. Obviously, Amigo's keen instincts kept him from being fooled. Knowing I didn't have the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch with me, and that a horse is no match for a cotton-tailed herbivore 1/2000th his weight, he wanted to get away from that slavering beast.
So, you see, Amigo can be a dork sometimes.
Back to this past Sunday. I was leading him out back. (keeping an eye out for killer bunnies). Standing at the gate to the pasture was a man and his two young daughters, happily petting Tonka's nose. As I approached, I asked them to step back, so I could open the gate, and they did, standing to the side. Nothing unusual there. Again, my pathetic human instincts failed to alert me to the tremendous danger of a couple preschool girls with carrots. When we were about 20 feet away, Amigo startled, bounced around, and half reared. Dangit. Well, when you're a 3 year old girl, and a 1000 pound animal acts freaky near you, you do the natural thing. Start crying. Erk. The father was all apologetic, trying to say they didn't mean to scare the horse, while I was trying to let him know that it was just this particular horse being a major doofus. The girl calmed down by the time I got Amigo through the gate. Both she and her sister got all happily excited, when they saw Amigo blast off up the hill, bucking, kicking, and farting after his halter came off.
I decided to bring Bonnie out next. She's an older girl, and a veteran of many many years. A pretty bombproof mare. I figured that after the 'scary horse' the kids wouldn't mind seeing one that'd be all quiet and let them pet her. As I led her down the aisle, I encountered another man and his son. His daughter was out on a trail ride, so I let 'em say hi to Bonnie. When I got back to the gate, the original man and his daughters were gone. Ah well. Kinda had hoped to let the kids know that not all horses were big scary things.
Also, Pumpkin has arrived. Don bought a new pony a couple weeks ago, and brought him down to the stables last week. He'd been turned out by the time I got there, so I went out back, armed with my camera, intent upon getting some pictures of him. I figured that a short, very round, orange-ish pony should be easy to spot right off. I'd forgotten though, that with the rain a couple days earlier, the upper dirt pasture was pretty wet, so all the horses were mud-colored. Still, he wasn't hard to find. I'd expected him to be all alone, but he was hanging around with Lucy and Nugget, two upper ranking horses.
That was a good sign. There's always some concern when finally letting a new horse out in the pasture with the herd. Horses hate not knowing where someone ranks in the hierarchy, so new arrivals generally end up going through a sort of hazing period. They're the 'fresh meat' and everybody tries to pick on them. Over time, the new one will assert themselves to some and submit to others, and settle into their ranking. Pumpkin was a little concern, because he's incredibly friendly and easygoing and he's also smaller than anyone else in the herd. He's 10, so he's not really old. Most ponies that size and age have a major pony attitude. Not so, Pumpkin. There was some concern that he was really going to get beaten up a bunch. That's not how it turned out, though.
Just about all the horses seemed to really want to be around him. Checking in later, he was walking side by side with Blackjack, another pony, but a high ranking one. (got that attitude) Another good sign, since low ranking horses tend to buddy up with higher ranking ones. That way the higher one can have a friend who isn't going to challenge him all the time, and the lower one gets some protection. Later, he had a little crowd of mares and geldings around him, all sniffing, even trying to groom. Not even one set of pinned ears. It was really strange. When all the horses were turned out after the last ride, only Bebe tried to push Pumpkin around a bit, and Pumpkin just trotted away. Even Baby Doc seemed enamored of the new guy, ignoring his usual herd buddy, Casanova, to spend a lot of time standing close to Pumpkin, and now and then sniffing him...um...somewhere personal underneath,...then lifting his head to flehmen. Kind of makes one wonder if the jokes about Baby Doc and Casanova are true. (Just think of Baby Doc as the punk biker guy in Road Warrior and Cas as the fella who rode behind him on the bike, before getting a boomerang stuck in his head)
So it was another Sunday with some interesting, but not earth-shattering bits. I'll see about posting the pictures I took of Pumpkin sometime soon.
First off It was good to see that Amigo was back to his usual self and none the worse for wear. Almost annoyingly so, really. The cooler weather tends to make the horses rather bouncy in the fall and Amigo was no exception. I'm not sure what it is, but when it starts to get chilly out, they tend to be more energetic and playful...and doofy.
Most of the time, and for most of the horses, it's no problem to turn 'em out by myself. Having to hold a horse and open and close the pasture gate can be a little challenging with some of them, though. Amigo usually isn't a problem, except when he's feeling bouncy. On those occasions, he'll try to find excuses to bounce or startle. Once, months ago, I was leading him out to the pasture and his head shot up, ears pricked, and he did the whole eyeballing thing at some bushes to the left and skittered around a little. Then he reared. Fortunately, a tug on the lead rope kept him from trying to bolt. I walked him in a circle, trying to figure out what Horse Eating Monster was lurking in the bushes. Then I spotted it. A rabbit. Not just an ordinary rabbit, but a little baby rabbit no bigger than my fist that was just crouching there, trying not to be seen. Obviously, Amigo's keen instincts kept him from being fooled. Knowing I didn't have the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch with me, and that a horse is no match for a cotton-tailed herbivore 1/2000th his weight, he wanted to get away from that slavering beast.
So, you see, Amigo can be a dork sometimes.
Back to this past Sunday. I was leading him out back. (keeping an eye out for killer bunnies). Standing at the gate to the pasture was a man and his two young daughters, happily petting Tonka's nose. As I approached, I asked them to step back, so I could open the gate, and they did, standing to the side. Nothing unusual there. Again, my pathetic human instincts failed to alert me to the tremendous danger of a couple preschool girls with carrots. When we were about 20 feet away, Amigo startled, bounced around, and half reared. Dangit. Well, when you're a 3 year old girl, and a 1000 pound animal acts freaky near you, you do the natural thing. Start crying. Erk. The father was all apologetic, trying to say they didn't mean to scare the horse, while I was trying to let him know that it was just this particular horse being a major doofus. The girl calmed down by the time I got Amigo through the gate. Both she and her sister got all happily excited, when they saw Amigo blast off up the hill, bucking, kicking, and farting after his halter came off.
I decided to bring Bonnie out next. She's an older girl, and a veteran of many many years. A pretty bombproof mare. I figured that after the 'scary horse' the kids wouldn't mind seeing one that'd be all quiet and let them pet her. As I led her down the aisle, I encountered another man and his son. His daughter was out on a trail ride, so I let 'em say hi to Bonnie. When I got back to the gate, the original man and his daughters were gone. Ah well. Kinda had hoped to let the kids know that not all horses were big scary things.
Also, Pumpkin has arrived. Don bought a new pony a couple weeks ago, and brought him down to the stables last week. He'd been turned out by the time I got there, so I went out back, armed with my camera, intent upon getting some pictures of him. I figured that a short, very round, orange-ish pony should be easy to spot right off. I'd forgotten though, that with the rain a couple days earlier, the upper dirt pasture was pretty wet, so all the horses were mud-colored. Still, he wasn't hard to find. I'd expected him to be all alone, but he was hanging around with Lucy and Nugget, two upper ranking horses.
That was a good sign. There's always some concern when finally letting a new horse out in the pasture with the herd. Horses hate not knowing where someone ranks in the hierarchy, so new arrivals generally end up going through a sort of hazing period. They're the 'fresh meat' and everybody tries to pick on them. Over time, the new one will assert themselves to some and submit to others, and settle into their ranking. Pumpkin was a little concern, because he's incredibly friendly and easygoing and he's also smaller than anyone else in the herd. He's 10, so he's not really old. Most ponies that size and age have a major pony attitude. Not so, Pumpkin. There was some concern that he was really going to get beaten up a bunch. That's not how it turned out, though.
Just about all the horses seemed to really want to be around him. Checking in later, he was walking side by side with Blackjack, another pony, but a high ranking one. (got that attitude) Another good sign, since low ranking horses tend to buddy up with higher ranking ones. That way the higher one can have a friend who isn't going to challenge him all the time, and the lower one gets some protection. Later, he had a little crowd of mares and geldings around him, all sniffing, even trying to groom. Not even one set of pinned ears. It was really strange. When all the horses were turned out after the last ride, only Bebe tried to push Pumpkin around a bit, and Pumpkin just trotted away. Even Baby Doc seemed enamored of the new guy, ignoring his usual herd buddy, Casanova, to spend a lot of time standing close to Pumpkin, and now and then sniffing him...um...somewhere personal underneath,...then lifting his head to flehmen. Kind of makes one wonder if the jokes about Baby Doc and Casanova are true. (Just think of Baby Doc as the punk biker guy in Road Warrior and Cas as the fella who rode behind him on the bike, before getting a boomerang stuck in his head)
So it was another Sunday with some interesting, but not earth-shattering bits. I'll see about posting the pictures I took of Pumpkin sometime soon.