Relative Something

Our dog, Asher demands a lot more attention than the horses so I gave him an extended session of intense physical play thinking that would earn me a chance to switch to looking in on the horses later. Getting down on my hands and knees in the front yard, Asher and I wrestled hard as he challenged me to take away the variety of balls he would bring my way.

Whenever I got a free ball, I would throw it as far as possible for him to chase. After he pounced on it and turned toward me in a crouch, I would provoke him from afar which would trigger him to charge toward me at full speed. That enabled me to practice my best evasive moves at the very last minute to avoid a collision.

It really helps to be able to see him coming.

When I made it out to check on the horses, they were milling about in the paddock. As I was making my way toward Light there was some movement among all the horses and Mia started backing toward me. I assumed she was just making space for Light who was in front of her. As I adjusted my position to come around in front of Mia to approach Light, Mia pinned her ears back.

I was the only one near her and that signal, combined with the backing toward me a second earlier, helped to clarify who she was “talking” to. I don’t think she wanted me bothering Light at all, whether I had good intentions or not.

She didn’t need to tell me a third time. I retreated to the other side of the gates at the overhang and watched from a distance. Mia stayed beside light as they slowly made their way toward the far side of the large paddock.

Later, as I was coiling up hoses in front of the barn, I kept hearing one of the horses let out a scratchy squeal. I guessed it was coming from Light but never witnessed it.

Mia and Mix were in view, so I knew it wasn’t them. When I stepped around the corner to look, Swings and Light were just standing there like nothing was going on. Light may be going into her heat cycle, in which case I will give her all the space she needs.

I’m impressed and rather pleased to see that Mia –notoriously the lowest-ranking member of the herd– was stepping up to control activity for once and not just reacting to what was going on around her.

That doesn’t mean I gave her a free pass when she nipped at my glove as I held it out for her to sniff as I was picking up empty feed pans later. That was just being unnecessarily snooty on her part. Too bad I can’t wrestle the horses like I do Asher.

By the way, he doesn’t get any free passes from me, either. I can’t let him win all the time or he’ll think he’s the boss of me.

I mean, I know he is, but I don’t want him to think that I know he is.

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