Knowing me, knowing you - Part III - Field Games

I have not made as many visits to the field recently because:
a) there are now 5 horses plus a pony in that one field where all the useful obstacles are and
b) we ('Mr F' and I) had been spending most of our time together riding.

I however noticed a change in 'Mr F'; he was becoming disinterested with my appearance at times, unless it was feeding hour. If you observe your herd in the pasture, they do form friendships / relationships. And they spend time together while grazing, grooming and playing with one another. I figured that I had neglected my part of the 'deal'. The only time spent together lately had been while riding, which to 'Mr F' means work. A horse doesn't want to be ridden, if it had the choice it would prefer to go out walking alongside rather than carrying a rider on its back. And my riding level won't be of much interest to 'Mr F' yet. Unless 'Mr F' is entertained one way or another (in a way that is 'pleasurable' to him) he'd much rather hang out in the field lazily grazing. I have to work on this relationship again some more on the ground. It won't be constructive nor productive working with a horse that doesn't enjoy being with you. If 'Mr F' decides that being in my company is OK, it certainly will make it easier for me as a rider as I don't have to 'fight' against his will.

Despite the field being full I decided to spend more time in there regardless of the other horses. I knew the other horses which are 'Rose', 'Madame',  'Little Sam' and 'Kid' and they weren't bothered by my presence. And I fed them on most days so they know me.

I went into the field equipped only with a food bucket (empty) and some thinly sliced carrot nibbles. My plan was to use the old metal barrels in the field to make some noise and the bucket was for hiding the carrots. 

To start off, I walked to the obstacles, placing the bucket upside down in the grass. Not once did I look at any of the horses and continued as though they where not here. I wondered which one might come and check out what I am up to first.  I made myself busy collecting some of the wooden planks and branches strewn all over the field. Very much on purpose, I made a lot of racket. Out of the corner of my eye I could see that I now had the attention of all the horses in the field. They all stood still, watching me. Although I was not directly looking at them I could see that there were very different reactions. 

The first one to come and examine what I was up to was 'Luke'. Each time I placed another wooden pole on the pile in front of the metal barrels, he proceeded to pull it down with his foot. I kept piling them back up. Every now and then one of the poles rolled down the back of the pile, hitting the empty metal barrel with a loud noise. 

The first time this happened 'Luke' raised his head, made a few steps backwards and studied the pile from a distance. His entire face kind of said "Woah!! What was THAT!?" I ignored him and continued. Seemingly intrigued by it all and after a while of 'thinking', 'Luke' approached the pile again and continued. More poles rolled against the barrel but he by now had figured out the source of the noise and the reason why it occurred. The other horses weren't showing any further interest yet.

'Luke' playing ... 'Mr F' (in the background) prefers the grass ... 

After a while of play 'Luke' decides on a quick snooze right where I was being busy. Next one to show interest is 'Little Sam'.

And while I watch 'Luke' and 'Little Sam', I can hear 'Mr F' approach behind me.

'Mr F' is now showing interest too and both are examining the barrels.

Time to play some more. I had sliced some carrots into small pieces and hidden them in my pocket. Curious to find out how they both might handle a carrot hunt, I place several pieces all over the barrels and the wood. Both 'Luke' and 'Mr F' very carefully examined the  metal barrels. It took both some time before they dared to pick up the carrots.

Meanwhile I continued to pile up the wood that I collected and continued making a racket by letting the wood fall against the barrels. 'Mr F' was not bothered by the noise but 'Luke' had to think about it for a little again.  Eventually, they were both no longer bothered by the noise and continued with their carrot 'hunt'.

I also hid the carrots under the food bucket and it was 'Luke' that figured out first how to get to the carrots by kicking away the bucket with his nose.

Towards the end, 'Rose' joined us too and was most interested and seemed very excited about this carrot hunt! But the photos I took of her hunting for the carrots are unfortunately all blurred.

As I was leaving the field, 'Luke', 'Mr F' and 'Rose' were still examining the wood and the barrels -
"Perhaps she dropped some more carrot slices!" 

Interestingly, only the horses that I have been handling regularly joined in, which is the three in the above picture. The other horses never came near. They showed some interest at the very beginning but soon continued grazing.

And while to some people this seems a pointless or boring thing to do, I learn a huge amount from play time in the field as it tells me how each horse reacts and deals with the world and all that is part of it. It also tells me if they trust me, and how confident they are as a being. Playtime is a lot of fun!