Oh, Sami!
Sami has recently been let out of detention. For the past two weeks or so he has been residing in the smaller side paddock with his mama Sweetie. Why you ask? Well, it seems Sami cannot control himself with the rest of the herd. In his youthful exuberance, he constantly annoys the other horses and picks fights with lots of halter pulling, biting, rearing and striking out. He’s not trying to hurt anyone, he simply wants to play all the time and not everyone is interested. To be fair, Grady is sometimes the instigator of a lot of the antics. He’s another horse who has never gotten to play with others because he was a valued show horse. In recent years, before we got him, he shared a small paddock with two old grumpy mares, so he’s never had a chance to play much in turnout. Grady is close to 18 hands and Sami is 14.2, so when they are rearing Grady towers above Sami, one false move and Sami is a pancake. They both come in with various cuts and scrapes and it’s just a matter of time before there is a serious injury. So Sami was sent off to detention with his mother. It’s fair to say that just one “mother” look from her and he scrambles to the other end of the field for cover. She may have a hard time walking now, but I have a hunch in her day she was a no-nonsense mom to be reckoned with, and I’m sure Sami can remember her wrath.
' Sami & Sweetie '
' Grady '
Sami appears to know he’s on probation; he and Sweetie are both back with the herd and things seem to be going smoothly … for now. What is so surprising is that Mellon, aka ‘The Terminator,’ never corrects Sami as he’s done with all the other horses his whole life. As leader of the herd it’s hard to believe he lets Sami get away with so much disruption. Sami is like that annoying kid in school that nobody liked but who was always willing to do anything to try and fit in with the ‘in crowd’.
' Mellon '
The other day, I actually saw Sami and Mellon playing halter tag. Mellon never plays, but I’ve come to believe that Sami is Mellon’s mini –me. Or maybe Mellon never played because the horses were so afraid of his authority they never included him in their games. Sami has no herd etiquette and so he jumps in with all four hooves. However, this morning I witnessed a very cute scene. Sami was up Mellon’s butt as usual and when Mellon decided to roll, Sami did the same. When Mellon got up and rolled on the other side Sami copied. This wasn't the first time they've been caught in a game of “monkey-see, monkey-do,” and it leads me to believe that either Mellon is grooming Sami to be the next leader of the pack or perhaps just having a little fun with our bratty boy making him play follow-the-leader for his own amusement. Either way it’s good to see Mellon playing in his old age and I do believe Sami is keeping him young and helping him get over his deep depression over losing his best friend of 15 years, Erik a while back.
' Sweetie '
We’re waiting for some good weather and the snow to melt completely so Sami can be started in regular work. Sweetie and I feel that when he has a job to do perhaps he won’t be such and unconscionable little monster.
Until next time
A horse has so docile a nature that he would always rather do right than wrong, if only he could be taught to distinguish one from the other.
No comments:
Post a Comment
It's so nice of you to take the time to visit. I appreciate your stopping by and commenting on what I've written. Even though I sometimes don't have the time to reply to each comment, I do enjoy reading them.