That Which Doesn't Kill Us...

My horses are country horses. They have lived thier lives in pastures surrounded by other horses, cows, dogs, wide open views, the occasional pickup truck... Now we live in town. We haven't put up a fence between our backyard and the front yet, and so the horses can see it all. The street, kids yelling and riding bikes, delivery trucks and neihgbors filling the street with party guests, construction crews, lawn mowers and bar b ques.

There is always something to look at, better than standing in a stall all day. And always something new for them to think about, which I think is a good thing. Now on our street, everyone has between 3/4 and 1 acre, some of our nieghbors use that space for a couple horses or cows, some collect derlict vehicles, some run thier snow machines or 4-wheelers. All good opportunities for horses to think. The way to make them calm, reliable, 'bomb proof' horses, is to expose them to as much as possible, thier seeing that these things don't kill them literally makes them stronger. Mentally anyway, so I don't hesitate to let them experience life.

Bubbles was a fun one, little girls blowing bubbles probably doesn't happen much in the wild.

A trash can knocked over and rolling down the street in the wind- Tuff's expression plainly said:
'Didn't I hear somewhere that trash cans eat horses? I'm sure I heard that!'

This morning it was a marathon bike race. They were used to 4 or 5 kids on bikes but dozens and dozens of brightly colored racers was apparently highly unsettling. By the end, they were fine with it which is a relief, 'cause can you really call you horse 'bomb proof' until you've taken him to a triatholon?