Horse Tricks

So the horses, Beautiful and Brutus, have been here several weeks now. They seem to have settled right in with the rest of the menagerie. The large pasture is now covered in large mounds of horse poop. Good: lots of manure for compost. Not so good: the large pasture is now covered in large mounds of horse poop.

Beautiful somehow managed to get her halter off a few weeks ago. I found it in the middle of the pasture still buckled. She must have been reading up on Houdini tricks. She’s been quite hesitant to get it back on. Every time I would approach her, she would turn her back and walk away. Today, I decided enough was enough: the halter was going back on.

I filled up the hay bin and placed it right next to my feet as I sat in the pasture. Brutus was not intimidated in the least and ate wholeheartedly from the Bucket and from Jett’s hand. Beautiful kept grabbing the bin with her teeth and pulling it closer to her. I just pulled it back with my feet. This game of tug of war went on for several minutes. Then the hay was gone, but Beautiful was still there. Just staring. I scratched her nose and talked gently to her, which she seemed to like. After a few more minutes I stood up and put my arm around her neck. Then voila, the halter was back on. I was very proud.

Two weeks later, the halter is off again…sigh.  And she has dredlocks.  Seriously.  Apparently, she’s been rubbing her head and neck against trees to get the halter off.  Smart.  However, the sap from the trees combined with hot sun has created a glue-like substance in her mane resulting in areas of dred that a Rasta would envy.  Hopefully detangler and a good comb will help the situation.  Otherwise, a razor cut is in the cards.

I’m not sure how she’ll feel about having her beautiful blonde Barbie mane shorn.  She’s definitely a girl’s girl. She warily eyes John and Jett when they’re nearby, but doesn’t seem to have any problem just hanging out and gabbing with the girls (well, the girl, me).  I think she may be a bit of a hussy as well, as I suspect she may be pregnant.  Oh boy…or girl?