Posts Tagged ‘horse behavior’
Mia Protecting
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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About Light
The horses’ rescheduled hoof trimming appointment happened yesterday afternoon. As usual, three of the four horses stood well for the farrier. The fourth, Light, was her typically less-than-cooperative self. In the more than two years that these horses have been with us, we have hypothesized what the trigger is that causes Light to fight against standing to have her hooves trimmed.
None of our many ideas about her issue, and what we could do to help her get over it, have led to definitive change. In thinking about her last night, I came to this: even though Light carries herself well most of the time, I now think that she is masking an ongoing stress she continues to harbor.
Cyndie agrees and reminded me that we’ve been told that Light was twice rescued from a kill pen. Some places buy and sell horses strictly for profit at the expense of the animal’s well-being.
According to an ASPCA web page,
An international market for horse meat drives the export and slaughter of American equines in Mexico and Canada. Some horses are purchased by kill buyers and sent directly to slaughter. Other horses are posted for sale, typically online, with urgent messaging encouraging the public to “save” them from the slaughterhouse by paying a “bail” price.
advancing-horse-welfare/truth-about-kill-pen-bail-outs
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That “bail” price ends up being much higher than the horse would cost in an ethical sale situation.
If our Light was caught in this scheme twice (the second occurrence reportedly with one of her foals), that means plenty of time when she was confined in substandard conditions.
One of Light’s behaviors that we see almost every feeding session is a leg spasm motion and a tendency to paw at her feed pan, almost always resulting in tipping it over or stepping directly in the middle of her food. It doesn’t seem to faze her one bit and she just continues eating from the dirt or switching over to another horse’s pan (Swings or Mia; never Mix).
It gives us the impression that she was possibly hobbled at some point and it has had a lingering effect. That would certainly relate to the difficulty Light has with standing for the farrier.
If Light is putting energy into “pretending” she is just fine most of the time, that seems like it would be exhausting. It gives me new inspiration to try giving her extra assurance that she is safe and respected every time I am near her. I’ve let myself assume that the two-and-a-half years she’s been here would be sufficient for her to already know that.
Cyndie has seen a photo of how Light looked when she first came to This Old Horse and tells me the level of starvation was shocking. It is helpful for me to remember how far Light has come to look as good as she does, physically. I think she still has a ways to go mentally.
With a little increase in focus, I’m hoping we can help her to more fully reclaim her best self.
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Special Greeting
Upon arriving home yesterday around noon, I was greeted by this sight:
Hmm. The two chestnuts, Light and Mia, were outside all the fences! I showed up at a very good time, indeed.
The other two horses were still inside the small paddock showing keen interest in the two escapees but not acting overly anxious about the situation. The scene was surprisingly calm given it was an extraordinary circumstance for horses to be roaming free beyond their usual boundaries.
I stopped my car well away from them so I wouldn’t trigger a reason for any change from their calm state.
Having learned a lesson when I became overly anxious the time Swings escaped the fences, I didn’t even approach the horses. Offering a friendly, gentle greeting, I eased my way directly toward the barn, scanning the fences for some clue as to how they had gotten out.
A gate in the larger paddock on the other side of the barn was open and in the moment that caught my eye, Light and Mia showed up behind me, just as I hoped they would. In the split second of trying to decide if I should go shut that gate or stay with the horses at the gate right in front of us, Asher came running up.
Our animal sitter’s boyfriend, Tyler was on duty, and seeing Asher led me to believe Tyler would be showing up right behind him. I’d hardly finished that thought when Tyler did appear. He looked more surprised than I was to discover what was happening.
I sent Tyler to go close that far gate and began the tricky process of opening the gate in front of me to let Light walk back into the paddock while struggling to convince Mix and Swings to not come out. As that exercise was succeeding, I glanced around to see if Mia would immediately follow.
I should be so lucky. It looked like Asher was trying to do some herding of his own, only in the wrong direction with her. Luckily, Mia didn’t overreact to the dog and promptly made her way around, showing interest in getting back in with the other three.
This was no easy feat. Now three horses were wanting to come out the gate I was trying to hold open for Mia and she is the most intimidated by the other three so she had no intention of stepping forward until they got out of the way.
Swings must have felt for me because she saved the day and turned away which helped direct Light and Mix to follow her and create a window of opportunity that Mia accepted. Somehow I pulled off all that without getting stepped on in my non-horse-wrangling shoes.
Tyler learned the fundamental lesson of NEVER leaving a gate unlatched thinking you will get right back to it. There is always a possibility of something distracting you from returning as planned. He had taken out a wheelbarrow of manure and was tending to Asher and thinking about getting laundry and dishes done before my return. All noble goals to keep owners happy with your service, but losing a couple of horses would have tarnished any sparkle of all the other deeds he and Anna are so conscientious about doing.
Thankfully, in this case, the horses helped to keep this from becoming a much bigger problem.
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Continuing Progress
After lunch yesterday, Cyndie suggested we try giving the horses another opportunity to wander into the barn for the second day in a row. I think it was great timing and resulted in another good experience for all. Even the surprise leap of Asher suddenly popping his face over the half-door to observe didn’t disturb the horses lingering nearby.
The horses milled about calmly and eventually, each one stepped into a stall to nibble the snack we had placed out for them.
The longer the horses linger in the barn without incident the greater incentive we begin to feel to successfully end the exercise on a pleasant note. Ideally, that means letting them make their way back outside of their own accord. Too bad ideals happen less often than we seek.
Something I’ve witnessed with our horses is a very common behavior of ‘almost’ moving all the way through a gate or door when we invite them to and then pausing for [usually] an extended time to look around and take in all the available scenery, apparently undecided about whether or not they truly want to comply with our desires.
As we began to verbally encourage the horses to move back out into the fresh air while all was calm, Swings decided to turn around and take one more look around. I was able to pull the gates closed so the other three wouldn’t change their minds and go back in as well but that led to an imbalance that Mix and Light were unhappy about.
It took the added persuasion from Cyndie who’d stepped inside the barn to convince Swings to join the rest of the herd again. Maybe the anxious whinnying from the two horses outside would have done the trick but I suspect Swings likes having the others fret sometimes and was just fine taking her merry sweet time.
We are optimistic about the horses being fine going into the stalls for the vet appointment in a little over a week and intend to give them even more free time inside before that day arrives to improve the odds.
In another area of continued progress yesterday, Cyndie had Asher off-leash while moving around the property down to the labyrinth where she intended to do some weeding and he did well with it.
I was very happy to find the maple tree we transplanted to the center of the labyrinth was casting enough of a shadow that Asher was able to take refuge from the hot sunshine by pausing (however briefly) beneath it.
Asher also did his darnedest to help Cyndie with her weed-pulling.
Take that image of dirt digging and multiply it by seven or eight and you can imagine how much Cyndie was appreciating his “help.”
It’s progress, but is it good?
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New Visitors
This morning we found evidence of new life arriving overnight down under the overhang.
At least two recently opened eggshells were on the ground beneath the horses. I won’t be the least bit surprised if the many barn pigeons have expanded their numbers. They will share a close birthday with the new robin hatchlings nesting in the branches of the spruce tree just outside our sunroom windows.
Yesterday we spotted the momma bird hopping up branches of the tree with a worm in her mouth and the little heads soon appeared with mouths opened wide.
We also enjoyed a visit from a new connection made at the Tour of Minnesota bike week. After several years of seeing each other on the tour, Scott Skaja overheard me mention having horses and quickly showed interest in bringing his family to see the place one day.
Yesterday was our opportunity before his oldest leaves for college in Florida and we were graced with a beautiful day to roam the property and mingle with the horses while also giving Asher plenty of attention.
The Skaja family was able to witness our experiment with refamiliarizing the horses with the inside of the barn. A vet appointment on the calendar in early August will require the horses to be in the stalls, so we will be offering them multiple opportunities to grow comfortable doing so.
We tried this last year but when Cyndie shattered her ankle in November it interrupted the process and the horses ended up making it through the winter without ever needing to be brought in.
Moving them one at a time when they aren’t sure about coming inside was a challenge I did not want to deal with all alone.
Scott and his wife and daughters stood outside the half-doors to observe how the four horses made their way inside and sniffed around every nook and cranny before eventually finding pans of feed to snack on inside each stall. Cyndie and I felt as though the horses showed evidence of remembering the visits last year and seemed pleasingly comfortable being inside.
It was a great chance to let the Skajas watch the horses explore new things and behave like the big, beautiful creatures they are, including pooping in the barn. Daughter, Bella graciously volunteered to do the scooping up afterward. I took advantage of that momentum to show off my manure composting process.
Not very impressive compared to Cyndie serving up freshly baked scones, a variety of incredibly delicious cold salads for lunch, topped off with a peach pie she baked earlier.
Obviously, Cyndie and I have different areas of expertise.
It will be tough to beat the fun we had yesterday, once again confirming our impressions that hosting visitors is truly what brings our paradise to its fullest splendor.
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Moody Mares
Our retired Thoroughbred mares have not presented regular behavioral signs of estrous but there have been occasions when it has happened. This week, I noticed Mix was showing evidence she was feeling it. Yesterday, it became obvious that Light is synchronizing with Mix. The horses can become less predictable and behave aggressively so we need to pay extra attention around them when their hormones are raging.
I was observing from the barn when the two of them demonstrated some of the angst they were feeling.
They were calm one second and then squealing and kicking the next.
Mix kicking up her heels…
Light responding in kind.
Mia was nearby but wasn’t the least bit perturbed by the shenanigans Mix and Light were up to. After two more episodes of flailing hooves, the herd quietly and methodically made their way out into the hay field as if nothing had happened and settled into some grazing.
Me thinks I will remain on elevated levels of awareness for the next few days or more. As long as they continue to direct their aggression toward each other and not at me, I’ll be happy to continue tending to the daily housekeeping under the overhang.
I must admit, it’s kind of fun to see domesticated animals demonstrate a little of their wild side every once in a while.
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Having Enough
The spring growth of grass has already become more than the horses can keep up with in their never-ending urge to graze. Those days when we need to confine them to the paddocks are hard to watch as they crane their necks reaching under the wood fence for any morsels of new growth. They could never get enough. Since the gates to the fields have been open for a couple of weeks, they now have more than enough.
The nutrition feed we serve, which they compete with each other to gobble up all winter, suddenly holds less value. The first time I arrived to pick up the pans and found them still holding food was a big surprise.
The other day, the two chestnuts were so exhausted after eating only half of the serving of feed in their pans, they walked down the slope and laid down for a rest.
That’s the first time I’ve ever seen them leave food for a nap.
It was just a short rest and then they were up to wander out into the field for green grass again.
I figured out a way to work around the problem of the ground being too wet to mow yesterday by cranking up the power trimmer and cleaning up around the edges. That always makes the place look like someone actually lives here instead of the barn and hay shed looking like abandoned buildings.
Cyndie’s mom came for an overnight visit for Mother’s Day weekend and we dined out last night at our local supper club restaurant, Shady Grove, before settling in at home to watch the new Michael J. Fox documentary, “Still.” He is one tough guy who is still funny despite the difficulties he has lived through.
This morning, our kids are coming over to continue the Mother’s Day festivities with a waffle brunch.
What a rich blessing of a loving family and more than enough food. I am holding all the moms I know in my thoughts this weekend, sending love to you and the families you raised.
Love. Here’s hoping everyone is having enough.
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Getting Excited
Straight out of the “fake it ’till you make it” playbook, I am pretending to be excited about how nice the weather will be once the weather stops being so dang crappy. Cold, wet, & windy are not my favorite conditions to be doing anything outside in April. Cold that hovers so close to the freezing point that some materials turn solid while the rest just get slippery, muddy, or miserably anything-but-frozen, is a surefire recipe for grumpy.
Not that I am getting grumpy. No, not at all [humph!]. I’m really excited! Just because the horses are acting all grumpy over the conditions this week doesn’t mean I’ve been influenced to the point of wanting to yell at Mix for being such an a**hole unkind member of the herd.
Was that suspiciously specific?
I mean, who runs other horses off and then comes back, turns herself around, and poops where the food was served? Who would do such a thing?
Mix.
After she kicks the fence separating her from Light.
We ended up splitting the herd in two in hopes of reducing intra-herd shenanigans that tend to leave one horse [read: Mia] out in the rain. I think the separation made Mix grumpier because it left only one horse as a target for her grumpiness. She and Light began to have their own little spat from either side of the fence between paddocks.
I’m getting excited for the day when they all mellow out because it is warm and dry again. Honestly, I’m finding it a struggle to remember that it reached 80°F for a few days last week. Seems like so long ago now.
The tiny wildflower blossoms are probably thinking the same thing.
Those blossoms are few and far between so I guess the majority of growing things didn’t fall for that unusual burst of warmth that came and went like a mystic dream. I’m nurturing my ongoing excitement for the real warmup of the season that will allow for vigorous raking of our grass areas around the house.
Opportunities to play with my new mower won’t be far beyond that.
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Not Money
For several days in a row this week, we were able to give the horses more attention than they have gotten from us in a long time. I think Cyndie’s increasing mobility has paid off for our horses in boosting morale. They have never given us any indication that they like to be brushed. Actually, just the opposite, but after Swings finally reacted with such whole-body acceptance to Cyndie working her mane the other day, we have fresh hope that we can teach them all this same appreciation.
Yesterday, we did some bale-twine braiding while the herd munched a noontime snack. We figure it will help them accept our plan to wrap posts and hang braided strands if they’ve watched us making them. I am so happy to have discovered this simple reuse option for the polypropylene twine since I didn’t come up with a local recycler that collects used bale twine. Keeps it out of the waste stream for a while longer at the very least.
While I was noticing the horses looking so happy to be watching us, I was reminded again that this retired phase of their lives is the first time their existence wasn’t related to making money. The reason they were born was that people wanted to make money off of them. The reason they were trained to race was money driven. After their racing days ended, all four mares were repeatedly bred in hopes their foals would become money-makers.
We don’t know for certain but based on the horse’s behavior, we imagine the grooming they received previously could have been rather business-like as opposed to focusing on the emotional needs and desires of the animal.
I don’t mean to imply that the treatment they are receiving from us isn’t rainbows and lollipops all the time. I wrote yesterday about working on disciplining their bad behavior. We have also recently taken the annual step of closing off access to the pastures. Mia so sweetly showed up at a gate Cyndie had just closed and forlornly gazed out at the field as if to ask for a pass.
Sorry, no can do.
At this point, it’s for the good of the grass. We need the turf to firm up a bit and the grass to grow at least six inches so the field will become robust enough to support the pressure of four heavy and hungry beasts.
So, we are giving the horses a dose of our own “This is for your own good whether you like it or not.” The difference is that our decisions aren’t based on making money off them. I would like to believe they can sense the distinction.
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Next Level
For the second day in a row, Cyndie has been able to spend some quality time with the horses. Wednesday involved some impromptu efforts to detangle knotted manes which then paved the way for more thorough grooming of all four mares yesterday. Cyndie said that Swings was getting lulled to sleep by the soothing effect of being completely combed out.
We discussed a shared realization that the horses would do well to be given a dose of training to reestablish proper respect for our presence in their proximity. I have not done more than a bare minimum of discipline in the months since Cyndie broke her ankle and I took on the role of primary person tending to the herd. They each have a tendency to behave disrespectfully on occasion and Light, in particular, has reared up in front of us several times which is not safe.
They have had more than enough time to adapt to this place as their home and us as their handlers. Since they are beginning to show some signs of undesirable behavior, we want to move to the next level of interacting with them. By “we,” I mean, Cyndie. She is much more experienced than I am in doing groundwork exercises with horses. My expertise has more to do with filling wheelbarrows.
Cyndie’s mobility is improving every day but is not quite where she needs to be yet for being quick on her feet and dancing with 1200 pounds of horse. While I was working on cleaning up the winter accumulation in the large paddock yesterday, I saw Cyndie trying to correct Light’s behavior while hardly taking a step. Light wasn’t displaying much sign of feeling intimidated.
Yesterday, we also decided it was time to protect the pastures from the horses while the new grass was trying to sprout. They have really been interested in spending time in the back pasture lately and when I finally closed the gate that was their access to it, they did not seem happy with me.
Luckily, they are willing to nibble any grass that tries to grow inside the paddocks. They were all grazing in there in the afternoon before I closed the pasture gate.
When I came down to serve dinner, they were all busy on the far side of the pasture. They showed up promptly when I set out pans of feed, which then kept them occupied while I walked over and closed the gate.
It was the second day in a row of record-breaking heat and it was again accompanied by a dramatic gusting spring wind that triggered a fire risk warning. Apparently, that all ends today. The weekend is expected to involve much cooler temps and chances of slushy precipitation. I’ve apologized to the horses in advance that their thick winter fur has been brushed loose and carried off on the wind.
As tough as this hot weather has been to deal with so soon, a return to snowy precipitation is not the next level we were hoping to experience.
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Relative Something 