A relaxing video showing real life final feeding at 8 PM. Mocha does a great stretch. Burrito does his best imitation of a cat. Calming and boring depending on your preferences!
I wanted to show you Freyja's polar fur! She is so fuzzy! Burrito has a long coat but no undercoat so he is not as warm. Mocha is fuzzy too with a think undercoat but shorter fur so it is hard to show on the video.
Positive developments in the horse relations. They are now all happily sleeping together in the barn! It looks as if this video is capturing Freyja in a dream. Perhaps she is dreaming about eating grass. (I asked but she doesn't remember.)
Barn sounds, volume up... there are tons of birds chirping in the hay loft. Mocha is grumbling and making a growling sound, Burrito is braying. Then when they all start eating the birds get quiet.
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Volume up for bray. Doesn't he kind of look like a bad actor in a Shakespeare play pretending to die?
I am working really hard at minimizing food aggression with my horses. They are new to each other so we are all getting to understand the dynamic. This video shows how well my choreography is working. As you can see Mocha must be first. Freyja needs to be last because I have to stand and hold her bowl for her (she insisted). As soon as they are done I quickly get the bowls out of there to avoid any fighting.
This is one of the challenges of having a herd free together 24x7.
PS. Notice Mocha is perfectly clean- bright white and Burrito and Freyja look like they were mud wrestling! Mocha does not like to get dirty!
Sister boxing with Owen as the "impartial observer". It can be hard to tell if some cats are playing, fighting, or play fighting. Fighting tends to be more intense- loud yowling, growling, real bites and scratches. While the play can include grooming, little breaks in the action, usually very little "voice" involved. Sometimes play gets too rough for one of the cats and they will sometimes getting into a tiff. With these two it rarely escalates.
This video is an awesome example of animals communicating with each other.
Burrito is not happy that the horses want to nap and he is pestering Mocha to get up. Watch what she does next! Spoiler - she literally threatens to kick his a$$.
The video is taken from my office window so the quality is low due to zoom in but still worth seeing.
Freyja is a gaited horse. Her breed, Icelandic Horses, are famous for their special gait- the tolt. Most horses have 4 gaits, walk, trot, canter, gallop. Here Freyja is showing off her "pace". In this gait the two left legs go together and the two right legs go together. It is a similar rhythm as the trot but the trot uses diagonal legs together (front right, hind left).
What was the rush? Grass of course!
I now have a surveillance video to check on my equines! I like to make sure they all sleep at night. Here you can see Burrito already laying down and Mocha joins him. Freya's face appears in the bottom right of the video. (Tiny insects look like snow.) Notice how busy Freya's ears are- listening for any threats out in the dark night.
Mocha was very interested in the new pile of pea stone delivery. I was a little worried she was going to eat it but she just swirled her muzzle in the stone. I only caught the end of the investigation on video.
