I'm told this is quite a lot of cash on the hoof. The ponies were out back today and I had time to grab my camera and snap away for a bit. I noticed some funny, clique-style junior high behaviour.
They stood primarily in a couple circles, heads facing in, and butts outward. There was a definite cool-kid group, and the socially awkward, not-quite-so-pretty outsiders standing off to the side, looking balefully at the cool fillies with their cigarettes and tasty malt beverages purloined from their folks' stash. One of the misfits gave the anointed the stink-eye as her wonky-donkey ears twitched her irritation. She knew she was just as good as those other fillies. Unfortunately, she'd never seen her own ears, and didn't know she wasn't actually good breeding material. OTOH, she's not at the glue factory, either: she gets to live next door to me and the pups.
Horsie Junior High.
Hmph. Teenagers.
9 comments:
Snicker... It NEVER ends does it... :-)
A fascinating look at the equine world as seen through the eyes of one of the pretty ponies...
:)
Hilarious.
Your property backs onto a ranch that is famous for its quarter horses. My cousin, who trains horses, didn't know about this particular type and had no idea that they'd been bred for a couple of centuries, at least, for energy and endurance.
She couldnt get them slowed down, so took the three horses that were to be sold and ran them all day the day before the sale just to get them to stand still the next day.
She thought.
The horses thought this was great fun. They were ready for another day's run when she took them into the sale ring.
My father, attempting to shoe one of these horses once upon a time, got so frustrated he finally got up on the roof of the smithy with a 2 x 4 and when the horse reared, whacked him between the ears with it. Slowed the horse down enough to get shoes, but not enough to keep him from romping around the pasture all the next day.
Great horses. Really.
You're spot on with that observation. I noticed the same behavior with my own horses a while back. Still funny to watch though!
That's pretty much how it goes with the ponies all the time.... it's like Saved By The Bell the Horse Class....
They're conspiring. You'll lose interest, forget something by the fence, and one of the horses will sneak up and steal it. It's great fun for them, and fills in the time when they don't have fence to break, or some moldy hay to cause them to colic.
Agree the herd dynamics are great fun to watch. But not surprising that they remind you of teenagers. Horses are herd animals. Humans are too, and never more so than between the ages of 14 and 20.
Anonymous: Being more than a little interested in horses meself, I'd like to hear more about this special high-endurance type of Quarter Horse. The QH got its name because it was a low-endurance sprinter: good for a quarter mile at top speed, and little more. What you describe sounds more like a mustang.
Waggoner Ranch quarter horses and Patton Ranch quarter horses are bred for endurance and energy. They have to be.
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