Irritating Pony and Goofy Thoroughbred

Tommy and I had a disagreement last night. Actually, it’s been an ongoing disagreement for the past three nights. But I’d had enough of the disagreement last night, so we had a “Coming to Jesus” moment. By the time we were both in agreement, we had sweat dripping off both of us and we were both breathing hard.

With Rabbit out on grass 24x7 next to the ponies, I decided it was time to get the remaining horses out on grass. Skippy was the good little pony and willingly let me put a halter on. I put halters on horses/ponies that are held in by electric only. Tommy on the other hand did not want to be caught. We went round and round the past two nights and last night (the third night) I decided that he wasn’t going to get the better of me. I let everyone else out on grass. Babe and Mayhem are enjoying the grass. I figure by Friday, I’ll be able to let them out on the pasture all the time and not have to worry about feeding them hay. I hope being on pasture will bring Babe back. She looks terrible. I feel awful but I don’t know what to do other than grain her and leave her on pasture for as long as possible. If she doesn’t regain the weight, we’ll be looking at other alternatives.

Back to Tommy. We spent a good half an hour doing laps around the pen. I knew I was in trouble because the pen is too big to do ground work. But I kept him moving as fast as I could keep up. I didn’t get the results that I really wanted but in the end I was able to get a halter on him. I was so furious with him that instead of letting him out on pasture, I decided that we both needed a timeout. He went to stand next to the trailer (in the shade), and I went into the house.

I’m not sure if we have our understanding figured out or not. But I decided I wasn’t going to deal with that type of behavior any more. So instead Tommy went into a smaller pen by himself. He can see the mares during the day so there’s no worries there. Skippy is not happy. He has been whinnying from the time he lost sight of Tommy (when I put him into the little pen). Hopefully he doesn’t get too upset today. I think Rabbit will probably hang out close to Skippy in the shade all day. If not, I guess this is a good learning lesson for Skippy. He is too herd bound anyway.

Babe and Mayhem are enjoying the pasture. Although they’ve decided to hang out in the trees instead of the open pasture. I don’t blame them though. Shade is a better option right now with this heat. Rabbit is enjoying the company too. I swear she doesn’t mind Skippy and all his antics. It seems odd that she’d put up with that nonsense but I guess if she doesn’t care, neither do I. I started Rabbit on her antihistamine and I started Skippy on his anti-itch antihistamine.  Not sure either are actually getting any good out of it but it’s the thought that counts right? At least I’m trying.

I also decided that I’d start putting beet pulp in the harder keepers’ grain. That didn’t really work out very well. Brego wont’ touch it and he’s the one that needs it the most. Bo ate most of it and Zeke pushed his around. I was so irritated with Brego last night that I threw the dish out into the big pen and wouldn’t you know Jim was right there to hoover it up. I wanted him to come into the barn too but couldn’t convince him. Maybe now. Of course Maverick was right there too. For some reason beet pulp is delicious when it’s forbidden. When it’s given to you, it’s awful. So I’m going to have to come up with a plan to convince Brego that it tastes good. At least this batch of beet pulp didn’t go to waste. We’ll try tonight and see what comes of it.

And that goofy Ivan this morning. I went out to let the big herd out onto grass (except King who made a break for it last night and spent the night on the pasture alone).  Everyone else walked out to the pasture except Ivan. Ivan had managed to get into the horse hay feeder. One of the loops broke off that Mike welded on so I’m figuring that’s how Ivan got in. But instead of going out the way he went in, Ivan decided that he would get his two front feet on the outside of the hay ring and leave his belly and the rest of himself inside the hay ring. It wouldn’t have been a big deal but instead of going where there was a big gap, he tried going through in a different spot. Every time he took a step, his big fat belly would get stuck. I tried helping him but that didn’t help. I went into the house to get Mike to see if he could come up with a better solution on how to get Ivan out. (Of course Ivan couldn’t pick up his feet and go backwards).  But when I got back out there, Ivan was already gone. I have no idea how he got out. I didn’t see anything noticeable on the ring to indicate he’d gotten hurt. I guess had I not been out there at that very moment, I wouldn’t have known he’d been in the hay ring.  On the bright side, Ivan never once panicked.  He simply stood there and gave me the “now what” look. Goofy thoroughbred!!