The boys know the drill by now, it’s happened so often. As soon as I pulled off the road and got out to unlock the gate they started heading for the barn.
But my part of the drill keeps changing. Now, I’ve laughed at my friends D&L for their – shall we say detail-oriented – methods for years so I’m not sure how much of this is them and how much is the boys – but on the other hand the boys don’t get ridden much anymore so some of this may be neurosis born of boredom. Either way…
Coal doesn’t care what you do. “Give me my food and go away” is his whole message at lunchtime.
But Doc…
…has gotten positively autistic about it. And the rules keep changing. I mean, it’s always “if the peas touch the mashed potatoes I am going to go berserk and break things,” but last time while I knew that I MUST NOT PUT THE HAY IN WITH THE FOOD PELLETS, it was still okay to serve the hay in a tub. Now, I was warned he doesn’t want it in the tub anymore: He’ll kick the tub out into his corral and stomp it around until it spills the hay out on the ground. So instead I was instructed to a)feed him the hay LAST, and b) pour it out on the mat next to the food tub.
And apparently I did it right because everything remained tranquil.
I bet Doc is smart enough to eventually figure out that stomping his food into the ground means he get to eat his food off the ground. The humans who buy his food appear to be enabling his spoiled behavior. I could be wrong.
Yeah, I think Doc is a bit bored. At least there’s no sign of him “cribbing” his stall apart.
“But on the other hand, the boys don’t get ridden much anymore, so some of this may be neurosis born of boredom”
If you talk to any animal vet, they will tell you that animal enrichment is just as important as food. It’s not enough to let these fine animals just stand around in their stalls or stand around in their paddocks with the little human interaction. They need to be ridden. Riding provides an interaction that provoke mental and physical stimulation which they need. Horses were bred for this, not to be pets.
If you don’t believe me, ask yourself this: how long would Tobie put up with being left outside in a fenced off yard with a dog house to find shelter in and his only interaction with people being when you go out to feed/water him?
I have had two ex-wives truly as autistic as the second horse, I guess I needed to ride them more…
If you had done that, Cederq, they might have turned into Lorena Bobbit!