Today was spring veterinary day at Bit of Honey Training. All the horses had their teeth checked and dentals performed if needed, and various other issues were attended to. (We use Equine Medical Service and Dr. Landes, as he is the best around for hand-floating dental work and is very thoroughly educated and experienced with rehabilitation, which we do a lot of here.) Prior to his turn, Cecil spent quite a bit of time showing off and playing with Cole over the fence. We could see it all from where we were doing dentals on the other horses. Cole and Cecil have this system of WWF horse wrestling, Cole picks up the rubber feed pan and smacks Cecil on the head with it over the fence. Cecil then turns his butt to Cole, so Cole hits him with the feed pan, then Cecil squeals and kicks, and they both run the fence line, lip wrestling when they come to a halt. They even added in some mud wrestling by splashing in the water tub together and trying to grab each others' lips underwater. Honest. This happens all the time.
When we took Cole out for his dental work, Cecil was left almost alone in the pens. His other friends were still waking up from their sedation. Cecil my drama queen threw himself on the ground, rolled around a great deal to smoosh the dirt into his sweaty fur, and then laid there. He would periodically look up and whinny, then sigh and lay his head down. One of my clients was worried about him, and went over to check on him. He continued to look forlorn and whinny periodically, she described it as a "damsel in distress". She said he very seriously stared into her eyes saying, "oh, I am so alone, in need of assistance! Perhaps a cookie. Yes, a rehabilitation cookie might help me regain my strength...." When it was his turn, I walked to the gate and opened it, calling Cecil. Immediately he sprang to his feet, scampered over, and shoved his head into his halter. He marched right out, ready for his turn.
Tale of Tao
Tao is the resident haflinger here at Bit of Honey Training. He is a smart guy with the draft horse temperament, and recently has been doing quite a bit of trail riding. His name is Tao (the Tao of Pooh) because he is such a thinker, and would dabble in philosophy if he had library access. His "big spook" is truly something to behold. When he comes across something crazy scary, like the big neighbor dog charging him aggressively, Tao gradually comes to a halt, and stares at the monster to assess the danger. (We have dogs here, so he is very familiar with riding with dogs, however this particular neighbor dog is very confrontational). If he decides it can be dealt with, he will carefully continue walking. If he decides it cannot be dealt with, he very subtly shifts his weight, turns gently around (he would be whistling nonchalantly if he could), and gradually walks towards home, hoping the rider didn't notice the course change. He's a good sport, even if you have to tap him on the shoulder to re-aim him down the trail, and he'll go as directed, just wanted to let you know that it's against his better judgement.
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