Posts Tagged ‘horses laying down’
Horses Down
One really great thing about the proximity of our chicken coop to the pastures is that we are able to observe the herd while we work. The middle of the day has been a time when it is not surprising to look out and find them settled in for a group nap.
That is always such a captivating sight, having them all lay down for a rest at the same time.
I would assume that they feel much more comfortable conking out to that level of unconscious when they have enough light to safely survey the surroundings.
The funny thing for me is, the way they look here mirrors the way I tend to feel around those same hours while at the day-job lately. Trying to simultaneously design and build a chicken coop has me burning my candle at both ends. A long night’s sleep has been one of the things I’ve sacrificed.
Oh how I’d love to join the horses for a mid-morning power nap.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Four Horses
With Cyndie home full-time this year and me working 4-days a week, I spend dramatically less time with the horses than I did last year. On Thursday, Cyndie asked me to feed the horses when I got home from work, because she wasn’t going to be home, and I found myself lingering with them afterward.
.
.
The young ones, Cayenne and Hunter, cooperated in some mutual grooming.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Legacy was test tasting a sample of the new hay Cyndie had brought home.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Dezirea appeared to be standing watch. She is a very good lookout.
.
.
.
.
Yesterday, while I was working on distributing piles of compost to trees around the property, I looked up and spotted Dezirea laying down in the pasture. It was late in the afternoon, about the time they would be coming up to the barn for their evening feed, and it alarmed me to see her down at that hour of the day.
I hustled that direction and hollered to Cyndie, who had walked past the horses minutes earlier. I was curious how long Dezirea had been down. At the same time that I got Cyndie’s attention across the field, our hollering rousted Dezirea from her brief slumber. She stood up right away and quickly rendered my query to Cyndie, moot, although I still learned she hadn’t been down when Cyndie walked by earlier.
So, that was a really short nap.
Sorry, Dez, for so loudly disrupting your rest.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Never Sure
Every time I come upon a view of our horses and find one or more of them lying completely flat on the ground, there is a moment of apprehension. I’ve grown accustomed to the sight of them resting off of their feet, but the number of times when they drop the entire body, including their heads, flat to the ground, are few.
Yesterday, I was turning a pile of composting manure and could see them in the distance in the hay-field. One of the chestnuts was sitting on the ground and the other two were busy grazing. Legacy appeared to be on full-time watch.
They were on a ridge of the hay-field, which is not a spot where I usually find them resting, although it is a place where they have a good perspective to see in all directions, without obstruction. More often, when I find them lying down it will be inside the additional fence that defines the arena, or in a lower spot where they are less visible to passersby.
The next time I looked up from what I was doing, I found the horse that had been on the ground had risen to his or her feet and Legacy was the one lying down, …all the way down. He was so flat, I wondered if he was still alive.
It is jarring when they lay so flat. There would be no difference in position if they were dead.
Being unsure, I watched the scene for a while to get a read from the other horses. When I moved to get in position to take a picture, Dezirea honed in on me and stared. She was definitely on watch duty.
After about 5 minutes, Legacy picked up his head and dispatched my apprehension. He sat upright for a bit before eventually getting back on his feet. He hadn’t napped for very long, but he was all the way out when he did.
Horses really know how to power-nap when conditions allow. Whenever I am fortunate enough to witness it, it brings me joy that our herd demonstrates a feeling of being safe enough to get the sleep they need, even though I go through that initial phase of not being sure about the dramatic scene.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Relative Something 