Knit Cap Thievery

There is something about my winter hats that is extremely appealing to the geldings.  In the evenings Highboy gets mash, and so I often find myself sitting on the edge of his water tank waiting for him to finish dinner.  His pen shares a fence line with Note's pen, so frequently Note will come over to visit with me.  This nearly always involves furtive nuzzling of my knit hats, with the occasional attempt at snatching it in thievery.  

 

I will usually ask him, "Oh silly horse, are you SURE you want to steal my hat...?"  since I have rules about horse teeth being involved with our interactions.  Generally I tolerate gentle nuzzling, but if the horse brings out his teeth he is quickly reprimanded, and I immediately walk away.  

With some horses (for example Highboy when he was a mouthy youngster) reprimanding the gelding would simply initiate heavy duty horseplay as he thought I was agreeing to wrestle with him and interact like another horse would.  In those situations the best way to handle it was to instantly walk away, totally and completely ignoring him.  Being ignored was truly the worst punishment Highboy could imagine as a youngster.  He always always wanted to wrestle and play with everyone, and saw any yelling, hand waving, or even smacking his face away as acceptance of his bid for attention.  

In response to teeth I would go totally silent, turn, and walk away from Highboy with no reaction whatsoever.  This made young Highboy jump up and down in his pen by the gate, waving his head and baring his teeth in frustration demanding I come back and play with him.  We went through the scene repetitively for ages, and he did eventually make the connection that teeth equaled humans walking away.  After he figured that out he realized if he was better behaved his playmates would hang around longer. 

 

Highboy still likes to push the limits occasionally, but you'll notice he doesn't actually touch me with his teeth.  they are fun photos since in the human world of selfies he even looks like he's smiling.

My suspicion is that the horses like the smell of my mango scented shampoo and conditioner.  I wear these hats over all my hair mostly to keep it relatively clean when I have to spend some time in the dusty barn.  These two just don't seem to be able to resist the giant ball of fruity smelling hair sequestered beneath the knit cap.