Monday, June 7, 2010

Wild Thing

You make my heart sing but you're still a wild thing....who hates that darn thing I keep attaching to his head.
Thought I should add a little more explanation here since I have written more in both emails and on my facebook page when this blog is where I should be using the most words to describe our life with Danny Boy. 
First, Danny seems to now officially be in what has to be the equine equivalent of the "terrible twos." It sometimes feels as if we must be raising Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. One moment he is sweet, gentle and obedient and the next that tranquil persona is replaced by the radically different, demon child! 
Of course, that hated thing that I keep attaching to his head doesn't help his mood. In the photo above, he is trying his best to both see what is hanging from underneath it and to dislodge the entire thing. Lucky for us, he's not had much luck with the latter but that doesn't keep him from trying.
Now, I have friends who tell me that I humanize Danny's mom, Mouse. I also have other friends who think like I do that Mouse is smarter than the average horse and often smarter than me. So, I decided to have a talk with her yesterday about the behavior from Danny that she's been ignoring. While we try to keep him from trouncing us, pawing or nipping during his Mr. Hyde stage, Mouse just ignores him completely while he bites at her sides and climbs her back. Now, I'm not saying that my horse understands human speak but I am saying that, after our conversation, she stopped being so complacent where Danny's behavior is concerned. Not only did we see her correcting him last night but he had several patches of missing hair this morning that surprisingly...or not... resembled Mouse's mouth in shape and one definite nip to the nose that I'm sure he earned. I don't want her to hurt him and I'm sure she won't but come on....she has to help me out with this mothering thing....don't tell her I said that!

1 comment:

  1. Ah, humanizing an animal vs accepting animal intelligence... that is an argument deserving more research than is currently on the books. Me? I agree with you that animal intelligence and emotion exists. To deny that reality may stem from the need to keep animals lower on the scale to ensure humans remain on top. It's all a bit irritating to me.

    About your talk with Mouse, maybe it's like the pack behavior of dogs. Mouse observed you (the dominant member of her pack) correcting Danny while you were having a conversation with her. Now that Mouse has seen what you will and will not put up with, she may feel freer following your example of standard pasture behavior. I don't know. Like I said, it's an area of scientific research that deserves more study.

    All in all, you are having a very interesting and fulfilling experience raising your newest family member. Thanks for sharing.

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