Rollin' rollin' rollin ....

Today I went to check on the boys ('Mr F', 'Luke' and 'little 'Sam') while having a tea break.

As usual, the crew joined me and were snooping around near where I was, eating grass and now and then asking for a scratch here and there.

I was on my way back indoors when I  heard much grunting coming from behind the little lean-to that is in the field.

It was 'little Sam' who was enjoying a good roll on the floor. I happened to have my camera with me as initially my plan was to hunt for some ladybirds. Instead I had the pleasure to witness the following:

'Little Sam' pleased with his roll, walking off to make room for the others. 

'Luke' upon seeing me : "What's up?"  while 'Mr F' is preparing the ground ...

'Mr F' is next in line, rolling on the same spot were 'little Sam' just enjoyed himself.

'Luke' is lining up, ready to join ....

 ... and gets down to roll ...

 ... 'Mr F' changing side .... 

 .... and here we have nearly synchronised rolling ....

 Although 'Mr F' isn't very good in judging distance ... 
Luke: 'Woah! That's a bit close ...!

 Preparing to get up ...

... one long shake: ' ... mmmm better!'

 This rolling ritual is often an invitation for Luke to play: 'Come on, lets play now! We can go chase the little guy!'

'Mr F': "No not in the mood, found some nice grass."

Talking about horses rolling:

Everything they do is worth observing. Rolling for example can show you if there are any health conditions, predominately relating to their back.  

If a horse rolls only ever on one side, there may be some pain somehwere that stops him from rolling on both sides.

I have observed them all and the routine is: roll side 'A', get up, shake vigorously, roll side 'B' get up, shake yet more vigorously. Repeat if desired.

Here at the farm there are only 'Madame' and 'little Sam' that can do a full roll. I haven't seen the others do it but then I don't see them all the time. But I never noticed 'Mr F' do a full roll.

I always thought that a horse should be able to roll from one side to the other without having to get up to change sides. Yet apparently, horses with high withers (like 'Mr F') cannot physically do a full roll. He does one side, gets up and does the same on his other side. Rolling is good for horses as it stretches and exercises their muscles and some people deliberately have a sand pit for their horses to roll in.

And this photograph was taken on a previous day:

'Work? What is that?'