This message is from: "Knutsen Fjord Farm" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Hi all - Sadie and Erlend are back at home now, bringing our total to 7 + the 2 in the ovens. So we get to enjoy more fascinating horsie interplay. The other day I put Sadie and Suki out together for the first time in our upper pasture. Since they are both pregnant and shod, I watched for quite a while, but they were much more interested in the grass than in each other. Duh! When it came time to bring them in, I walked toward Sadie, holding her halter and lead rope. The mares had thus far ignored each other totally. When Sadie saw me, she sauntered over to Suki, who is younger, fatter, and almost two hands shorter, to sniff noses. After sniffing, Sadie squealed once and stamped her foot at Suki. Then Sadie strolled around Suki until they were butt to butt, and gave a desultory two-footed kick in Suki's direction. Now satisfied, that something or other had been established, Sadie came over to me to have her halter put on. Suki, little piggie that she is, paid no attention whatever, knowing that I would be coming for her next and she had to stuff down as much grass as possible before that awful moment. She wishes she had chipmunk cheeks for times like that.... More herd dynamics. I'm getting silly Willie filly used to being away from mom in preparation for the BIG MOMENT! First, I put her in a paneled paddock with auntie Pepper, about 10 feet from mom's paddock. Silka gave two snorts of concern, than turned back to her hay. Willie raced around Pepper's paddock for a few minutes, seeking an escape. Pep, seeing this, took a couple of turns herself, then looked at me as if to ask, "Why are we doing this, anyway? Do I have to?" I assured her that she didn't, whereupon she resumed eating. The next time, I had Sonny in there, too. They had all been together in the big pasture before, but he had never had Willie in his own yard, so to speak. He, low guy in the pecking order, took a look at Willie, who's only a little shorter than he is at 3+ months, and said to himself, "Aha, I've just graduated!" Then he began shoving her around with his chest to her butt. Next, he took hold of the base of her tail, sideways, and they took a couple of turns around the paddock like that. It was a new one on me, and on Willie too, who wasn't sure whether they were playing or fighting. I don't think Sonny was, either. Goof ball! The new arrangement during Willie's weaning, will be Silka-Sadie-Suki as one sub-herd, and Pepper-Sonny-Willie as the other. The members of sub-herd 2 are all for sale, but more on that later. Peg Knutsen http://www.eburg.com/~kffjord/
