This evening I fed the horses a flake each an hour before their supper, because, with the time change, they think they should be fed at 4 pm, not 5, and I’m easing them into the winter feeding schedule (I need light in the barn to measure their evening feed, and there’s only sunlight or a flashlight.) I gave them 45 minutes (usually enough for a flake of hay) went out and did not see a horse in the south barn lot (missed the Spotted Hay Bandit.) Tigger wasn’t in the south barn lot. Rags had camped out in the SE corner, where he was hoovering up Tigger’s leftover hay. Thinking I was safe from interference, I went through the barn, closed the west barn gate (Tigger whinnied, but I beat him to the gate) , turned around to come back in and there was Rags.
My options were to leave Rags in the barn lot while I measured out the feeds, and took them out, or reinforce my rule that horses had to be outside while I prepared their feeds. (Their evening feed consists of a measure of feed-through wormer, a weighed out amount of Purina Strategy pellets, and a quarter cup of Formula 1, a horse supplement. Each animal’s feed is measured into a plastic container with the horse’s name on it, except for the Formula 1 that’s poured over the top after their feed is poured into their feed pan. ) Opening the gate to drive Rags out risked letting Tigger back in. But I decided that was my best strategy because Rags is very hard to keep to his own pan of food once I put food out. Rags looked at me; I looked at Rags.
So I went back in the aisle and picked up Mr. Dressage Whip, saying OUT, OUT, without looking at Rags, as I walked to the gate. Rags will not usually go out unless I have Mr. Dressage Whip and wiggle it in his general direction. This time Rags *followed me* almost to the gate, and when I opened it and said “OUT” again, out he went. So I said “Good PONY!, good boy!” in my most loving (I think) voice, hooked the chain on, swept out the part of the barn with stall mats, started the water hose in the water tub, made up the feeds, and carried them out to their usual spots–Tigger in the barn, on stall mats; Rags in the south barn lot on the ground. Let the horses in; they went to their appropriate spots and started eating. Then I went back through into the aisle, picked up two more flakes of hay, and walked them down to the far end of the field and dropped them about thirty feet apart. When I turned around, Tigger was coming out. Rags, by then licking Tigger’s feed bowl for any “flavor” came out too. Back in the barn I shut off the water, hung the hose on the fence, put the carrier plastic things into the feed room (and, I now realize, forgot to bring in the measuring cup for the supplement…again…
Both horses are smart but in different ways. It’s fun to observe. Rags’s smarts nearly always involve “How can I get more food?”
Love your horse stories; my dogs also check out the other ones bowl to see if there is anything interesting left.
HI – apparently, your horses do not have a sense of “full” as when we push ourselves away from the dining table and head for the couch. You do not have horses – just some pigs in horse clothing. But it is fun. Enjoy.
Jonathan
Horses as a group don’t have the “I must stay slim for my cover shoot” mentality. Keeping the ‘easy keepers’ among them at a healthy weight requires effort on the human’s part. They evolved as prey animals in food poor environments (seasonally if not constantly)…they’re built to move around, eating small amounts of low-quality feed 16-18 hours/day…and unlike cows, they have small stomachs and big guts, but lack the ruminant advantage. Horses colic easily. OTOH, they don’t have to lie down and chew their cuds–with small frequent meals, they’re always ready to flee a predator, since running away really fast is their primary defense. Some horses are anxious enough (see Tigger) and thus active enough to work off having more to eat than they really need. Others (see Rags) need more work or less feed.
We can call them pigs in horse clothing (they also like to roll in mud) but I think “humans in horse clothing” is just as reasonable since I am an “easy keeper” who has a grazing habit on things too rich for my size and activity level.