Some Horse Chat

This evening I took Little Monster Boy out for a short walk. He had been cooped up all day so was near the point of bouncing off the walls. The plan was a little bit of football and a general wearing out of his internal battery. We chatted though not much, jumped on large rocks playing "had" and then went to feed some horses with handfuls of grass. Monster said he had never fed a horse before and so today he wanted to feed them. Then he told me what to do and I had to feed the horses first. I suppose it was a matter of getting his confidence up, but I did ask him what he'd do if one of my fingers got eaten off. He thought about it and didn't say much at all. Fortunately my fingers are still intact. The problem was once Monster got the hang of feeding one horse he wanted to feed each one we passed. There were perhaps half a dozen tethered to long metal link chains on the grass, each separated from the other. Some we fed, some we didn't, especially the large brown run who was trotting about in a feisty manner. He was bigger than me and because of his behaviour I thought it best not to try our luck. Whereas one of the smaller and younger horses accepted grass quiet readily from Monster but spat my handful out. For some reason he didn't like me but Monster boy was OK.

There was a man tending one of the horses and Monster wanted to feed this horse. So I said Monster would have to ask him for permission. There was of course no problem, so I spent some time chatting about the horses to him and was amazed to find out a few things: The eldest horse around he said was 61 years, however he was likely dead by now. Horses discriminate the grass they eat, sometimes they will leave certain patches of grass alone. They smell the grass and just will not touch it. On the subject of smell he told me about their water. There were pretty large containers available for each horse to drink from. I was told if a big dog peed up one of these containers and the urine splashed into the water the horse would refuse to drink from it because they could smell it. Neither would they eat hay which dogs had pissed on. Also I learnt when horses sleep, their joints lock up, being an idiot I didn't at first get this point it's because this way the horse will not fall over. In another discussion about giving birth I was informed when you see the front hoofs of a foal it is only a matter of ten to fifteen minutes to the foal is born. Immediately I knew a lot of mother's out there who would be amazed at the idea and wish it was true for humans as well. Then if a foal was coming out head first it was not good news. You'd have to wait for a moment when the mare was not pushing, put your arm into the mare find the forelegs and then pull them up. This is exactly what a vet would do in any course. Mostly though, he said the mares had their foals early in the morning and he'd just turn up and there they would be with their mother without the need of any intervention. I had quite an enjoyable chat. There were other aspects we talked about and I certainly learnt something from it.

Monster Boy asked the odd question one of which was whether horses were vegetarian. The man laughed and said he thought they were. I asked if Monster wanted to come up sometime with a chicken curry and see if the horses would like it. You never know, maybe it was why the big brown one was so feisty. But I wouldn't start on the Madras first, a straight curry would be ideal. As for the next morning, then I think I'd give these equine fellows a bit more space than normal.