It is about this time during a mare's pregnancy that I begin to suspect their psychic abilities. They can feel me watching so they put on a real show as if this is genuinely THE moment I've prepared for. They wait until they sense I am fully awake and my adrenalin is flowing freely, then they lie down. Not to give birth mind you, but rather to relax and have a long lovely nap complete with snoring.
They also know where the barn camera is aimed. We adjusted the cam so that it would view the area where both of them had habitually lain for the past three weeks. The instant the camera was bolted in place they stopped laying in that spot. One has chosen her new bed in the one small area of her stall that the camera cannot see. The other now snoozes in the shadows as close to the edge of camera range as possible. She, thankfully, has a very light mane and tail so I can see each end when watching the camera at night, I just can't tell which is which.
If I am wide awake and staring at them, they will relax and nap. If I decide that they're resting comfortably and that I myself could rest comfortably for a few minutes, they will get up and begin raking their sides along the stall walls. If they wish an earlier than normal breakfast, all they have to do is lie down and have a good roll, look at their sides, then stretch out on the ground with their legs stiff. I race out the door, quietly approach their stalls and when they are certain that all the other horses know I'm there, they get up and waddle to their feeders looking very smug.
My books on raising horses all say that mares at this stage of pregnancy should have their whims catered to. I do. They know I will. They enjoy that knowledge.
I'm Jean. I raise, train, dote upon, worry over, stay up all night with, and provide support for eight miniature horses. This where I blog about it all.
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Quote From The Laughing Maenad
On why hurricanes are named for women:
Hurricanes are just wind and rain, like breath and tears. Hurricanes like women confuse the hell out of men. Neither follows a logic they understand. Fellas map and plan, plot strategies and courses but it's not until they barely escape or get smacked down by a piece of flying debris or china that they realize that there has been a major miscalculation.
Hurricanes are just wind and rain, like breath and tears. Hurricanes like women confuse the hell out of men. Neither follows a logic they understand. Fellas map and plan, plot strategies and courses but it's not until they barely escape or get smacked down by a piece of flying debris or china that they realize that there has been a major miscalculation.
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Handsome hoss striking a pose.
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About Me
- Jean
- I'm married to this guy: http://dubious-maxims.blogspot.com/ I moved here 13 years ago (mygod has it been that long?!)from Montana. I was mostly raised in Mississippi and finished growing up just north of New Orleans. At 35 I handed the Ryder Truck Rental Company 1200.00 and asked "How far will this get me from here?" Montana was how far. I met my husband online 5 years later and moved to Phoenix. Pretty standard really.
3 comments:
I knew I should have bought two cameras! Doh! Unfortunately, Frys seems to enjoy not having quite the same merchandise in their store as they have on their website.
But I figure it this way - even if we installed twenty cameras, they'd still find a way to not quite be in view, even if it means laying down inside their feeders.
Precisely! Although, I wouldn't scoff at another camera. Perhaps one set up from the opposite end of the stalls. That way I could see into both feeders. They'd have to cling to the ceiling.
Don't give them ideas. They may evolve web-shooters and do just that!
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