Moving Boundaries

Jason and I made use of some temporary fencing when we had Vaccination Day 1 and Vaccination Day 2 in the last couple of weeks. We watched the Big Boys paced along, stared at, and generally looked disgusted with their temporary fence that took away their option to be Runners as we waited for the vet on Vaccination Day 2. None of the horses liked being trapped with their halters on in their temporary paddocks (Don’t you people realize there is a veterinary professional on the way? We need to run!) but the Big Boys were the most expressive in letting us know how unjust their temporary fence was.

A few days ago Jason and I decided to put up a temporary fence in one of the pastures to keep the horses off an area that they tended to walk on a lot, and thus really tear up the grass. We put the temporary fence up about 8 feet from one of the perimeter fences in their pasture so they hardly lost any space.

However in the horses’ opinion we had stripped them of their inalienable right to be in that 8 foot strip. They came over and stared, hard at the temporary fence and the area which they could not access. Then they ran along the fence, they sniffed the fence, they did some more intense staring at the fence, they looked for a way around the fence. Apparently the only place they wanted to be was in that 8 foot strip we had illegally stolen from them blocked them from. Because, you know, the other 15 or so acres in their pasture were completely unsuitable for habitation.

From our perspective this minor boundary change seemed to generate much ado about nothing, but apparently our opinion doesn’t count for much around here.

_________________________________________

Merlin, Fabrizzio, Walden, Noble and Bruno saying “What IS this?? The only place we wanted to be was on the other side of this. Don’t you know we have rights?!”