Posts Tagged ‘herd leader’
Calorie Burning
We have tried to pay better attention to controlling how much food the horses get daily, ever since our last vet visit revealed they still need to lose more weight. It’s not as easy now as it is in the winter, when the only food they get is what we give them. Now there is more than enough grazing available, unless we lock them in the barn.
I’m not going to do that. It creates way too much mess for me to clean up. Early last week we had a cool day with wind and rain that set the herd to shivering. We put them inside overnight to dry off. Next day, since I was out of the routine of cleaning the stalls, I forgot all about it. Then I forgot the day after that. When I finally got around to it, the weather had warmed considerably and the humidity had climbed. It was nasty ripe inside the barn.
It gave me new appreciation for all the times I have had to do that chore in frozen winter temperatures. It’s much less stinky.
Back to controlling their food… our herd leader, Legacy, is rather persistent about asserting his authority over the others by way of moving them off their feed pan. If I put less out for him, he just finishes it quick and moves on to the next pan, forcing off anyone who happened to be there.
Since he seems to always get the most food, we’ve decided to balance that by getting him the most exercise in hopes of compensating. Sunday afternoon, Cyndie led Legacy to our arena space to do some longeing exercises. He is funny because it is quickly obvious that he knows the drill, and even seems to light up and enjoy proudly prancing around, but after barely finishing one circle he stops and turns toward Cyndie as if to say, “I’m done! That was great. How’d I do? Where’s my treat?”
In fairness to both of them, he and Cyndie are out of practice and it was distractingly windy. Also, the surface was wet and thus a bit slippery. She restarted him a few times, but eventually cut the session short, for his sake and hers.
Yesterday, I was walking Delilah and when we popped out of the woods, we found three of the horses on the ground, napping. It took them a bit to become aware of us, and after they did, the two chestnuts decided to get up. Our exercise-needing herd leader did not. He decided to stay on the ground.
He doesn’t seem very fired up about burning any extra calories.
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Practicing Big
It turned out to be a beautiful day yesterday up here in the Northland. We hit 52°F in the afternoon, which made it delightful to be doing outdoor chores. There is no mistaking that our days are numbered. It is reasonable to expect that we won’t see temperatures this warm again until April of next year. I tried to be mindful of the precious comfort afforded me while toiling away in the warm sunshine.
The forecast for the next 10 days shows a trend headed downward toward daily highs only in the 30s.
Before lunch, I took a break from my fence project to tidy up the paddocks. My appearance seemed to draw the horses in from the big field to check on me. I gathered they knew it wasn’t time for the feed we distribute in the morning and evening hours, from the nonchalant manner in which they arrived.
I noticed that Hunter had come close to where I was standing, but was still on the other side of the fence, so I set down the pitch fork and walked out to meet him. Legacy is always watchful, and when contact is being made, he wants to be there. As he approached, the other two trailed along. With the herd now idly congregating, I wandered back to my task. The horses decided to get a drink of water.
I was happy to see them comfortable enough with the setup to gather around, two on each side, and drink through the sound of the unit flowing as it tried to keep up with their demand. Thinking back to when they first arrived here, that sound was unnerving to them.
After their drinks, they stayed around, occasionally nibbling on some hay, so I had company while I continued to scoop. It was a good exercise for all of us to spend time in close proximity. I had opportunity to practice what Dunia suggested in her comment on my Language Barrier post, and communicated using my big energy to command results when Legacy or Hunter tried to chew on the wheelbarrow or gate chain. They responded appropriately, and I felt as though I was on the way to establishing my leadership with the herd.
With all four of them hanging around, I took several breaks to give them special attention. All but Hunter stood still and let me brush and massage them with my gloved hands for an extended time. In between, I would go back to cleaning up the grounds, moving them out of the way so I could get to the spots that needed attention. At one point, they started to crowd me against the fence a bit too much, so I sought to move on, except the direction I was headed was into the corner.
It was time to practice more leadership. I tried walking out of the paddock, thinking …they showed up here to begin with because of my presence, maybe they will want to be with me out here in the big field. It didn’t work. They didn’t budge. I walked back in to where Legacy was standing, his attention having been on me the whole way. I wonder what he was thinking. I began the exercise I learned at the Epona seminar, and which I have successfully put into practice twice before, walking an arc in front of him, as I encouraged him to follow me with my big energy. His first step was not so much engaging as it was threatening, so I hastily made that my turn and brought my energy around the other direction. At that, he took that step I was looking for, toward me.
I turned to direct my energy out of the paddock, without looking back, as he and the herd followed. I must have looked like the Pied Piper. I got them outside the gate and stepped aside to let them run off with gusto. They all stopped with me.
“Okay, you want me to take you farther?”
I re-energized quickly, to avoid losing momentum altogether, and headed out toward better grass. At this point, they rallied their own objective, and strolled beyond where I had stepped aside. Mission accomplished.
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Featuring Legacy
The last horse to be featured from our little herd is, Legacy, aka “Legs.” I saved him for last because he already tends to command the most attention. I think partly, that is because he is a gray in an otherwise chestnut herd, but mostly it is because he is the leader.
One of the ways I notice that he is in charge is how often he stands solid, appearing oblivious to the antics of the other three when they are doing their merry-go-round game of working out their pecking order. He doesn’t bother to look up from eating while they jostle and jump, jockeying for position. Another way Legacy’s leadership is evident is the fact that he is first to approach when the herd comes over to greet people.
Legacy is pretty inquisitive and can be a bit of a mischief-maker. When we happen to be cleaning up the paddock while they are in there, he will wander over to supervise our activity. Then he will sniff at the tools or the wheelbarrow, which leads to grabbing things with his teeth, as if he is going to pick up and help.
He noticed Cyndie had hung a shirt over the fence that she had shed when she got too warm. He smelled it, grabbed it with his teeth and pulled it to the ground. Then for good measure, he wanted to paw at it with his hoof, before I rescued it from a muddy manure mess.
It is very clear when Legacy is trying to communicate something. He will make a very obvious approach to address me, and as I stand in front of him, trying to read his message, he seems to grow impatient with me. He often stomps his hoof to make a point.
I usually turn and go find Cyndie to ask her to come figure out what he wants. Sometimes it is that he wants to be fed grain or expects some treats, but one time it was that they all wanted to come into the barn and get out of the cold rain.
Legacy is a wise old leader. We are very lucky to have his watchful eye managing the safety of the herd for us. He does his job well.
Relative Something 