4 Days ago I moved my worldly possessions to my new residence in the neighbouring village where I am renting a room in the cottage where 'Lillian's daughter lives. In fact the road should be renamed into 'Lillian' road ... as her mother and she herself live all on the same road just a few houses appart.
I have taken the offer to reside here because I can bring along with me 'Mr F' who is of course my main concern and my responsibility. Along with that there is also the availability of being able to have access to a field shelter for winter where he and his mate(s) can be in the dry. Said shelter is yet still under construction, I have assisted in phase 4, the unloading of said shelter. Hoping for some more dry and warm weather so that it can be weatherproofed once it is put back together.
2 days ago we moved 'Mr F' and 'Kitten' as well and walked them over from 'Buttercup Farm' to their new home where 'Mr F' is meeting new and old (as in: met before) pasture mates.
Unfortunately, on the walk over, we had a bit of a bother with one of the dogs being out of control and as we had to jump a very narrow stream on the short cut chosen by 'Lillian', 'Mr F' stumbled and has hurt his leg. He isn't lame now but he walks on it tenderly. When it happened he immediately lifted up his leg to highlight the discomfort. I have to see how it develops over the next few days.
'Mr F' has not been in any of 'Lillian's fields before although he has seen them. His first field of residence was just behind the cottage where I now reside. He will be in there with 'Kitten'. Right next to them, separated by a stonewall are 'Tolka' and 'Topsy'. 'Tolka' js a 2 year old youngster and the son of 'Liffey', another of 'Lillian's horses. 'Topsy' is the little horse (now 22) that a few winters ago had to be nearly put down due to some injury. He spent months a 'Buttercup Farm' while having his broken leg healed.
They were to go together the next day. I am always wary when new horses are put together as I have seen several times (and had to interject) when things go wrong. Hence I prefer them to get to know each other while being separated by a fence at least. And considering that 'Mr F' seemed to have just damaged his leg I didn't want him to go charging around.
'Mr F' was a little wary when he was moved into his new field even though his old pasture mate 'Kitten' was with him. We had to walk past 'Lillian's big horse lorry and he was looking at it with a fair amount of concern. He's seen the lorry before and been in it twice. Once in the field I let them get on with it, exploring it all, which didn't take long because the grass was just too tempting. Later that evening I went into the field to feed 'Mr F' and as always brought my own food along too. While the weather allows I feel drawn to the outside and I find great peace in being with the horses.
The first night passed fine. In the morning 'Mr F' seemed glad to see me; almost as though he thought he'd been abandoned. He came trotting up looking a bit restless, all the while making his little 'snicker' noise when being pleased to see some being/person. The same happened when I came back from work; after I got changed I went straight to him with my cup of tea and he once again was glad to see me, greeting with his usual calls and snickers.
He will be realising eventually that this is his new home. What however became clear again is that he does need a certain amount of concistency. Its a fine line between offering consistency while avoiding dullness / boredom.
'Mr F' himself is extremely consistent, which is why he is so successful in dealing and gaining the respect / trust of the other horses. He is clear in his body language and there are no misunderstandings.
With the move there are of course new characters and one very interesting character is the afore mentioned 'Tolka' - a 2 year old gelding. 'Kitten' has been together with 'Tolka' when he was little but now she does not at all accept his presence!
It is as though she thinks that he doesn't belong to the herd and that he should go and make his own ... she really is making it rather uncomfortable for the young chap! 'Mr F' however has accepted 'Tolka' straight away but also puts him in his place (during feeding).
I do make a point of feeding in the fields with all present, if I know them. Mostly they don't dare going near 'Mr F's food although he has been known to share it! Nor do they interferre with me, especially once they have observed me handling 'Mr F' who in their eyes is the 'alpha' horse. I do notice this again and again: whatever I do is very closely watched. They watch everything that goes on between myself and 'Mr F' - our little tiffs - our grooming and so forth. It is as though they seem to think "well if HE does what that two-legged being says, we probably should do so too ..".
In fact I have tested this with 'Luke' in the past rather successfully.
And so I guess if you want your horses to do something, show it to them on your lead horse. It will be much easier to get the others to do it. It doesn't work well the other way round, that too I have tested.
And so, the next day, they all were allowed to be together and seemed fine. 'Tolka' was having a bit of a hard time as he was really pushed into his place. In fact it took a while before the 'old ones' let him come near ...
I have a feeling that 'Tolka' is going to be an interesting new character ...
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