it’s many months since the rescues left their small cramped quarters filled with twine..garden hose and who knows what..
it’s interesting to watch them expand their boundaries.. at first they went everywhere together..”a cluster of grapes” moving around..exploring..
over time they splintered off.. then back together..then dividing into pairs Bella and Sally..Sampson and Jade..
then going alone and with other herd members but always back to four at feeding..all eating off the same flake of hay.
.no matter how much food or how big an area.. lately they’ve gone alone in separate directions..
so thinking this might be a good time to pull one out without anyone getting emotional or upset or making themselves sick
Sally was gathered up and brought to a front pasture..the reasons..she remains so aloof and needs to be with people and is off by herself a lot anyway..
so Sally comes up to the pasture by the house to interact with people instead of being off in the trees in Sally land..
she does great.. people visiting and working around..Sampson could care less.. Jade also..they have each other..
Bella though ..voices her opinion..she calls to everyone in an “ok where is everyone” call and they answer back..
she’s content to just know where they are..that they are each in a different pasture..gates open if they want to re-connect..
she doesn’t go look but listens for their answers to her calls.. later in the day though Bella becomes extremely alert..extremely agitated..
but she’s looking in the opposite direction of the other horses..she runs to the fence a hundred yards away..
calls to whatever it is that has her attention..calls..looks ..like dog on the point.. looking in the direction of her gaze I see what it might be..
someone walking in the street half a mile away.. a person with a bright red jacket on.. all we see is the bright red jacket bobbing along..
and I wonder..they say horses don’t see color..but this jacket is the same exact color as Sallys red flymask.
.
it’s a person not a horse..but Bella is insistent..calling..”hey..it’s me!..i’m here!” ..look over here!..
when the red jacket bobs out of sight she goes trotting back to the herd..did she think it was Sally in her flymask bobbing along?..only she knows..
but in seeing how much Bella missed her friend, Sally is gathered up and led back so they can all share dinner with the rest that have gathered for food..
same thing again..same flake with the other three..four heads on one flake and a friend joining in to boot.. ..
so we’ll do it again tomorrow..Sally learning people and Bella learning it’s ok to be farther away..baby steps..end on a good note..success over speed..
studying horse behavior over instant results..like the cowboy said..”sometimes the slower ya go the faster ya get there”..
annegreenstories 