I was once told by a clever horseman (probably Ross Jacobs, but, just in case it wasn’t him, and he doesn’t agree with this, I am not going to sound certain) that horses generally prioritise things in the following order:
Safety comes first – most important.
Then company of other horses.
And food comes last.
Well, apparently noone has told Becky this.
Now that she has eaten down the grass in her yard (though with recent rains it keeps shooting through), and is being fed only hay, she is certainly feeling a lack of both food and company. Poor girl! (But she is dropping weight! And, let me note, she is certainly not starving – there are no indications of that, and I am the only one who gets to clean the paddock, so I see the proof.) Since I am only able to see her on the weekends, I normally need a good hour to clean out her yard, during which I leave her untied to wander around out of the yard, so that she doesn’t get in my way. There’s lots of grass on the property, and she can’t get out onto the road; but she can, potentially, go down either driveway at the front or the back of the property and visit other horses (at least say hello to them over their fence), including her former paddock-mates.
According to the preference ladder, that is what she can be expected to do.
But, not my Becky. She stands in one spot, munching and munching. In fact, she doesn’t even shift when another rider leads her horse on the way to the arena within couple meters off Becky. Grass! That’s all that matters… for, at least, the hour required of me to clean. If I dawdle for a long time though (as I did a couple weekends ago) Becky will, eventually, lose the grass-centered narrow-mindedness and will start paying attention to what’s happening in other paddocks, and will, eventually, munching all the way, go visit someone.
Other people marvel at how relaxed I am with Becky – that I am not afraid she would make me chase her all around the property. She might, one day, just to prove me wrong, but, for the moment, I trust in the power of food to keep this horse’s mind occupied above all else.
