A new herd has been created at Dun-Pikin recently. Marley has joined Shine and Tic Toc. They are now a herd of three. Honestly it was one of the easiest introductions we have ever had. There was little to no drama at all.
Marley, the chestnut horse in the video, has always lived with the mares. When we brought him home after buying him, he refused to live in the field with the other geldings. He kept jumping out of the field. After needing several stitches after one of his jumping episodes, we faced the fact we needed to do something else. We decided to try him in with the mares. He settled right in with them. He’s lived with mares ever since, until he met Olive.
Olive and Marley just never got along. They were always fighting. Kicking, biting, and squealing were how they constantly interacted. It became obvious once again we needed to make a change. We realized there would be a real benefit to moving Marley in with Tic Toc and Shine. With another horse added in, it would be less likely that one horse would be left by themselves. Shine would always get upset if Tic Toc was taken out to do a lesson. Now Marley will be there to keep him company.
Marley is happy to join the herd because now he can be out all the time with the other horses. When he was living with the mares he had to stay in during the day while Olive was out. Olive would have to stay in at night so Marley could go out. Now she can be out all the time too. She loves that Marley now lives with the boys. Tic Toc … he’s just easy going and glad to be where he’s always been. He seems happy enough to have a new herd mate.
When I saw them, all eating together the other day, I was so happy. I immediately thought of a childhood song I heard recently. “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other is gold.” Silly I know. It’s nice to look out and see ALL the horses happy and content. All is well at Dun-Pikin. See for yourself. Come Ride with Us!
So peaceful Rusty and Lassafrass are napping!!!!
The magical unicorn waiting for Santa to arrive for the PBA Christmas Tree Lighting!!!!
This is Lillie. She’s definitely a special pony, a real favorite of many of our students. In her herd though she is on the very bottom. She’s pretty much the last to do anything. The last one allowed to get a drink at the water trough, the last one allowed at the hay round and definitely the last one to come in. I always feel bad for her. She’s a real loner out in the field. Because we feel bad for her she tends to get a few perks extra little from us.
She’s allowed to spend her days in her stall. She doesn’t have to wait for her chance to get a few bites of hay, she has a whole pile of her very own in her stall. She can get a drink whenever she wants, after all we keep her bucket filled. She doesn’t have to worry about being chased either. She really does love her stall. Of course she can’t stay in all the time, so she goes out at night.
When breakfast time comes, Lillie has learned to come to the gate as soon as she hears someone in the barn. She stands there anxiously waiting, hoping for the opportunity to be the first one out before the others in her field notice. Katie started opening the gate and letting her out, letting her put herself in her stall. Katie follows behind and closes her door, at least when she remembers. Katie has been known to get distracted and we’ll find Lillie happily nibbling grass here and there an hour or so later. No harm really. After all Lillie is special.
It always makes me a bit nervous. Lillie is fine, but we got into the same habit of letting Cory, a horse we had years ago do the same thing. He too just like Lillie always went to his stall, but every day he got more and more anxious to be let out. He would start trotting back and forth as soon as he saw someone coming. One day that someone was me. As soon as I opened the gate he barged past me knocking me down. He and every other horse in that field jumped over me and ran out. Thankfully I wasn’t hurt, but it left an impression.
It’s easy sometimes to fall
Nov 30, 2019!!!! It was super cold that day, so we brought arts and crafts at camp into my kitchen. This was so fun! Definitely doing it with some other campers in the future!!!!
They let us think we are in control… we really aren’t!
Santa’s Magical Unicorn!!
Come and see Santa’s magical unicorn at Himmel's Holiday Village
We’ve had a bit of a kerfuffle this spring between Marley and Olive. It became so bad we made the decision to separate them. The only way we could do that is to have Olive out during the day and Marley in. We then put Marley out at night and leave Olive in. Never do we let their paths cross. It works, but Marley does not seem happy being the only horse in during the day. So, after some thought we decided yesterday on another approach. We decided to put him in with another herd. Yikes!!!
When it comes to horses, I hate nothing more than introducing a new horse to a herd. It can be a little and sometimes even a lot dicey. Many times it involves kicking, striking, biting and a lot of squealing until all the herd dynamics are sorted out. In Marley’s case we decided to add him in with Tic Toc and Shine. A little herd of just 2. It seems like it would be easy right? It didn’t go too bad really but with just 2 horses they kinda ganged up on the new guy and ran him around a lot. He spent most of the day standing in the run- in that they chased him into. At the end of the day he came in almost unscathed with just one bite. We decided to change things up a bit today. Instead of going out with both at the same time we left Tic Toc in for the day and turned Marley out with just Shine.
It seemed like Shine decided if Marley was all he had for company maybe he wasn’t so bad after all. The video shows how Marley and Shine began their day together. By the end of the day, they were eating out of the hay round together. Eventually we will add Tic, but for now we will let Marley and Shine bond a little longer before we do.
For now, Olive goes out during the day and is in at night. Marley goes out with his old herd at night because Olive is not out. Tic Toc stays in during the day so Marley can bond with Shine, Tic Toc and Shine are turned out together again at night because Marley is with his old herd. It’s kinda crazy keeping it all straight, but you gotta be a little c
Walking With Horses
Not just walking with horses! These guys did some fancy walking with horses!! Two of the kiddos were there for their first time and the other I believe was just her second or third! What an amazing job they did! So proud of these guys and of course grateful for our horses who are worth their weight in gold ❤️
