Up Close & Personal with Horses

As I mentioned in the previous post, horse care is part of our life now. A major part. When we first decided on this life path, horse care was not part of the deal. But the owner was not able to find other places for the horses before winter so they became part of our life. When you've never worked with or cared for large animals, that's quite a challenge! It's finally sinking in that we received only a few hours instruction in dealing with the horses before the owner left but there is no substitute for experience! Horses are very quick to understand whether you know what you're doing and mean business or not. Since our initial failure with calling them into pasture, we have definitely come to understand this basic rule of dealing with large animals.

The big problem with large animal care is it much more difficult to just make them do something. Although cats and dogs can also be challenging in this way, they aren't bigger than you (normally!) and they aren't in herds. But with horses it's vital to have a strategy and at least rudimentary knowledge of their psychology. It's amazing how fast the horses figure out there are new humans caring for them and these people need to be paid attention to. We're also gaining confidence which makes the horses respond better. Horses, like people, have definite personalities. And like people they behave differently in the herd versus individually. Herd behavior is definitely a safety issue to be on your toes with. The first thing we learned is not to get between the horses. Feeding time is also not a good time to be among them. We dump the grain into widely spaced bowls from OUTSIDE the fence at feeding time.

The photo is of Rockette. She is an older horse, very gentle and agreeable in temperament. She along with another mare named Rose are mowing the front lawn in this photo. Horse eat grass for some nutrition but also as recreation. Like people, they also get bored if there is not enough to do.

Kaos!

Well we're finally on our own. The woman we are house-sitting for left yesterday for her winter job in Nevada. Since part of our job is now horse care, we went out to the pasture this morning to call in the horses for their grain. Until winter they spend the night in the pasture and the daytime in the paddock near the house. Sometimes they come up on their own and sometimes they have to be called. Calling them in is an easy task for those who know what they're doing and are comfortable with horses. Unfortunately we are neither!

So with an hour or so of instruction in dealing with a heard of 7 horses, we marched out to the pasture this morning to call them in. One thing to know is the pasture is at least a quarter mile walk from the house. Anyway off we went in the rain to get them. Of course they were in the far corner of the pasture, happily grazing. At first they started to come when we called. Then they stopped half way across the pasture, and grouped up, just looking at us. So I went over with the intention of getting them moving again. They started moving toward me and then one horse noticed I had a riding whip and off they went at a gallop for the far corner of the pasture again.

We retreated to regroup, this time getting a scoop of grain and enlisting Jayne. The second attempt was less successful than the first since none of us felt brave enough to walk up and attach a lead rope so we could starting leading a horse. If we could have done that, the rest of the herd probably would have followed. Our only option was to call a friend of the owner and have her come help us. She helpfully told us the herd will now be harder to handle since they "got away" with not coming to us. Of course we knew that but as greenhorns, what could we do! Our hope is with the friends' help, things will settle and we will become less incompetent with the horses. Or maybe we go nuts!

I included some variety pixs for your enjoyment. The fall here has been lengthy and awesome. It is at least as beautiful as the U.P. and Vermont. Everywhere we go we are struck by the beauty and intensity of the color. Mixed with conifers and hills, one runs out of superlatives in describing the view. In addition to the scenery, there are also pictures of the owner's son, her boyfriend and Jayne doing fence repair. Then we have Cheryl adapting to the new kitchen and communing with Kimber, the owner's dog.

Potpourri

Here's a collection of photos from recent times. The construction photos are of a timber frame house being built by our friends Shawn and Seal. House photos are of the house we are house sitting. And the outdoor photos are of the area around us. We live in such a beautiful place!