December 2 2010
Recently Twosox has been gaining a lot more confidence in me and also in himself. Before he wouldn't go to the manger very often if the other horses were there eating and that resulted in him not getting enough to eat and consequently being thin. So since we have been feeding the horses better hay and in square bales I have been making sure that Twosox gets in to eat because I want him to get the hay and I also don't want Prince and Ruffian to get it all ;) I have been playing around with different strategies, whether I should send Prince and Ruffian away and let Twosox and Knightly eat or whether I should stay with all four and make sure that Prince and Ruffian don't send the other two away. These are the main two strategies that I have been playing with and observing.
I have found that letting all four eat together and just making sure that Prince and Ruffian don't send the other two away is the best so far. This way Twosox learns that he can be safe in there and he learns how to be a little bit more like Knightly in the sense that he is learning the difference between when the boss horses are just moving their head a little bit or when they are actually sending him :)
I have seen huge improvements already. Twosox will actually go to the manger with the other horses by himself and if he gets sent away he will wait a couple minutes and just go back in again. Plus our relationship has grown also. If he hasn't come over by the time that I am done putting the hay in, I will call him and he will come in and start eating, trusting my leadership.
It has been really interesting. Now recently since the ground has been freezing up and we don't have a whole lot of snow yet the corral is awful and really hard to walk on. So Twosox has been more cautious... and I don't blame him. I have decided to put some hay in the shelter for him instead of just leaving it all in the manger. And since the ground is really bad to walk on the other horses leave him alone for the most part because they don't want to walk on it ;) So far it has worked well.
Since I have been out with the horses each feeding time, (we used to just roll a bale of hay in, which was easier but with square bales it is too loose and the horses are wasting to much so we have to put bales in through out the day) it has been interesting to watch and see the herd and how they interact with each other. It is definitely interesting, and sometimes it can get rough! But I have enjoyed it and I have noticed little changes in the horses in how they respond to me when I go in the corral. One being that they will move out of my way for me when I am coming through, especially Prince! If I am coming through he will move over and let me by or if I am at the manger doing something Prince will wait and ask me whether he can come in to eat. Little things that are really amazing!
Needless to say I am also enjoying the extra time with the horses :)
Naturally,
~Keri
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