Greeting

This morning I fed the horses as usual, and as usual when it's mealtime, they have no time to spare for socializing. Except occasionally Bridget.

Feeling a desire for some friendly interaction, I parked myself beside Bridget and waited. After a little while, she raised her head, turned her whole body towards me, and reached out with her front leg. I grabbed hold of it and rubbed her knee, while she stuck her nose in my hair. I'm certain now that it is correct to think of the leg gesture as a greeting. She soon went back to her breakfast, but I felt much better.

Her mane is getting very long. I wonder if she'll allow me
to shampoo and condition it when the weather is warmer?

Fun Before Food

Saturday, and so the horses' breakfast is late.

George is standing around, looking Eeyore-ish and muttering to himself. Bridget meets me at the gate when I go to fetch out last night's dinner dishes. She says, "Breakfast can wait! First I want to play the Glove Game, and the Zipper Game, and the Leg Game!" Then she discovers that the drawstring of my anorak hood is elastic, and she can pull it and let it go poing.

George comes over; she leaves. George pulls each of my gloves off and then stands there looking put-upon. I gather the feed dishes, throw them over the fence, and on my way out, Bridget meets me by the gate to play some more. Once more she leaves when George looms. George says, "All right, I want to do the glove thing once more too, and then for heaven's sakes, woman, are you going to feed me or not?"

So I feed them.


p.s. It was 11F (- 12C) this morning, but there was no wind, it was dry, and I put on so much long underwear and so many layers that I was actually too hot outside.

Trust

George and the mares moved in together in June. Apart from the gas colic episode, it wasn't until November, when I found George snoozing with the mares standing nearby, that I saw any of the horses lying down.

More time passed, and it is only in recent days that I have regularly seen one or more of the horses lying down in the field. This has coincided with the advent of another new phase in George/mare diplomatic relations - they now can occasionally be seen actually touching one another in a non-hostile manner.

Today, I looked out and saw George and Rose resting companionably, a short distance away from each other. Later, George wandered up to Rose, and they had a peaceful interaction. His approach seemed rather shy and hesitant, but he looked happy.

Afterwards, I thought he looked rather goofy and pleased.

I think he must be glad that he finally has some friends, rather than merely companions to live with. He is definitely less anxious these days. His worry over the cold and over food has diminished. He's more subdued. He also may be rather bored, as I don't take him out much these days. (Cold weather and short days.)

It's taken about six months for George and the mares to build up enough mutual trust that they are comfortable touching each other and sleeping in each other's presence. It makes me realize how much patience we as humans should have in allowing horses time to develop trust in us - not presuming they'll be instantly comfortable with all the intrusive ministrations we expect them to routinely put up with.

p.s. Today Bridget was very keen on practicing her zipper technique. She seizes my zipper pull in her teeth and zips it up and down at a great rate. She also enjoyed giving me her foreleg, and playing with my gloves - pulling them off my hands and shaking them and rubbing them on the ground. I keep trying to get her to play moving games, but she won't. She's, like, "Nope, we're just going to stand right here and play." One of the dogs almost inveigled her into a chasing game today, but not quite. It took a long time before she'd run with me on the leadrope - maybe one of these days she'll agree to run with me at liberty.

New Theory

Ok, so I have a new hypothesis about why Bridget likes to gesture with her forelegs. She never seems to want anything in particular - she enjoys it when I pull on her leg, or scratch it, or hold it up, but none of these appear to be her goal.

Two things got me thinking.  One was that wee Islay of Ardtornish did exactly the same thing. And the other was an incident that happened a couple of days ago. I was out in the field, and Bridget came up.  I was happy to see her and gave her a big hug, followed by much vigorous rubbing of her head and neck. (So gratifying to have a horse who enjoys that kind of thing!) She responded by going into overdrive with her leg gestures - throwing her foreleg at me repeatedly with great gusto, matching the enthusiasm with which I'd greeted her.

So then it occurred to me:  they're doing this in imitation of a human using its hands.

That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it.

Nap Time

Over the extended holiday season,  the horses got used to being fed rather later than usual. However, after her excursion yesterday, Chloe was up by the fence, alone, staring at the house, early this morning when my daughter left for school. So of course I had to let her out.

The day started off very cold - 16F - but warmed up to a balmy 48F by the middle of the day. Wearing only a sweater, I went into the field to spend time.

Bridget indulged in her new thing, which is having me hold her foot up underneath her chest. She pushes her foot at me and then emphatically pulls it back, relaxing when her leg is safely tucked up beneath her. She'll stay in that position for several minutes.

She also enjoy having her leg stretched out and held securely between my knees.

Today, deciding that maybe she could do something with her hind legs too, she kept picking them up and poking them at me. She didn't enjoy having her hind leg stretched or held up, but she persisted in trying again - perhaps hoping for a more satisfactory experience.

George was lying down in some hay. Bridget and Rose dared to get quite close; he gave them peevish looks but didn't move.

Later on, when he was standing up, I really wanted to go and stand near him. Here was an example of when my feelings clearly did not coincide with his. Sometimes I feel like I'm a little kid wanting attention and a hug. I sidled up to him. Everything was ok up to about two feet away. But when I took the next step, it was as if he'd been given an electric shock. I stood back again. A little later he reached out and touched me gently with his nose. I moved in closer, and he was ok. But when I touched his neck, he pinned his ears. I stood nearby a little longer, and then went over to be with Chloe, who was lying down.

I sat down nearby, wondering if she'd mind if I got closer. She answered my question by reaching out toward me with her nose. I moved in close and scratched her, and we were comfortable.

When Bridget came over, I got up to deflect her so that Chloe would be left in peace.

While talking to Bridget, I  became aware of Rose being aware of me. A few moments later, I was standing near Chloe again, when Rose walked up to me and plonked herself down on the ground for a rest.

As she lay, she made the same little grunts and groans as the recumbent George and Chloe. She rested her nose on the ground and drifted into quite a deep sleep for a few minutes, twitching - REM sleep?

Bridget finally came snooping over in a mischievous mood, banishing Rose's peace and quiet. Rose made the meanest faces she was able but finally got up. She continued with the mean faces, but Bridget was, as usual, totally unimpressed. She doesn't even bother to get annoyed in return. Rose gets very cross when Bridget interrupts quality time she's having with a human being. I thought it was very sweet that she came and lay down next to me.

Tomorrow I'm off to Scotland for a niece's wedding. Unless my destination offers a) Internet and b) horses, this is it until I get back. I'm leaving a horsey daughter and non-horsey daughter in charge until my return - hopefully everyone will get along beautifully.

George Softens Up

A couple of days ago, the sun was shining cheerfully. It was still cold, mind you, but armed with new (thank you, Santa) insulated gloves and various other items of warm clothing, I decided to spend some time out with the horses while they were eating hay.

They were intent on eating and did not interact with me, except for Bridget, who always can spare a few minutes to play. At the moment, her favorite thing is to have me hold one of her forelegs while she chews and tugs at various parts of my clothing in the vicinity of my head and neck. At this time of year, there are plenty of bits and ends to chew on - the drawstring of my anorak hood, my hat, my scarf, my collar.

Later on, I came out and found George unmistakeably asking to be taken out, something he hasn't done for weeks.

So on with the halter, and out we went. We wandered around, George finding enough green grass still available to make the excursion very worthwhile.

For some time now, he has had his prickly aura. You just know if you touch him, he's going to stiffen and look sour. But this day he was emanating a much warmer, more inviting vibe. I could put my arm around him and lean on him, and he placidly kept on grazing.

For the rest of the day he kept it up. Maire posted a blog entry the other day, where she talks about experiencing an urge to hug her elderly pony mare. It's hard to know sometimes where the feeling is coming from, as there are two psyches involved, and the present situation sometimes is at odds with the past.

Yesterday the day was much warmer - all the way up into the high 40's - and George was very mellow again. Every time I saw him, I felt the desire to make physical contact, and every time I would feel a twinge of reluctance just before touching him - a feeling conditioned by his recent aversion to being touched. But in this case, my attraction toward touching him was the "truth," while my anxiety was an out-of-date hangover from a past situation - because once contact was made, he remained soft and receptive.

However, if I went ahead and petted him on days when he was not in the mood, then my decision to touch him would be an untimely attempt to change the "truth" of his current distaste for contact.

Yesterday, I could have interpreted the slight anxiety before touching him as a signal from him, and I really had no way of ascertaining which it was until I made contact. Except that in the moments when I was most aware of the anxiety, I believe my attention was turning inward on myself and away from George.

He stayed and was cozy with me for a little while yesterday. It was nice.

George has been playing with the dogs. Here's a blurry picture of him fence-running with them.

My daughter's miniature schnauzer is staying with us for the holidays. He and George are making friends and sniff noses through the gap in the gate. I need to get a photo of that.

And speaking of photos, here is a marked-up photo of Rose's hoof, showing the slit where the abscess erupted. New wall will grow down above it, but the slit will remain, as the hoof wall grows, until it reaches ground level. Apparently this won't cause problems. She's still a little sensitive around the coronet band area, which will make it hard to hold her foot for trimming - something she really needs.

Pretty wide, huh?