Shuffling

Flash and Pistol went in for their check-ups yesterday.  They are both in very good health, with no issues other than being a bit thinner than optimum.  Our vet recommended putting both of them on alfalfa to help with maintaining good weight.  As horses age, it becomes more difficult to keep weight on and they are both going to be 24 this year.  They’ve both been easy keepers all their lives so I don’t expect it will be hard to add a few more pounds.

We don’t want the other horses on alfalfa as they are all plenty fat and would totally blimp out on alfalfa.  So, we rearranged the pastures.  We decided to put Flash and Pistol together in the front pasture, which is flat and gets the most grass (which isn’t much of anything right now due to our lack of rain).  That meant Tex and Luek would be joining Lucy in the long, sloping pasture which has lots of oaks and pines but no grass to speak of.  We knew Tex and Lucy would be fine together as they have been pastured together before.  The wild card was Luek.  Lucy is an alpha mare; as in an ALPHA mare.  She and Flash cannot be together as he is an alpha as well and they fight.  Luek seems pretty easy going going, though, so we were optimistic that it would work fine.

It took some orchestration.  We put Pistol in a turn-out and then moved Tex and Luek over to the shady pasture.  Sage trotted along with us.  Brett took Tex in first, since we knew that would go well.  Lucy immediately came over to investigate, which made Tex nervous, which made Brett step away from the gate.  The gate swung open — I had Luek some distance away so I couldn’t catch it —  Lucy saw the open gate and she was gone.  That would have been fine, she’s easy to catch, except that Sage saw it as her opportunity to herd Lucy back in.  She lunged at Lucy’s heels, Lucy jumped the stream and she was gone in a cloud of dirt and clattering hoofs.  Luek watched them go.

I put Luek in the pasture with Tex and set off to get Lucy.  I found her by the barn, in another turn-out.  Sage looked pretty pleased with herself.

I haltered Lucy and took her back to the pasture.  That actual pasture integration of a new mix of horses was a non-event.

Tex and Luek are happy to be with a cute girl; and she’s happy to be admired.

Last, we moved Pistol in with Flash.  They’ve known each other for 15 years, have been on many trail rides and in trail competitions together.  They are old friends.  Pistol wandered off to try and find some grass while Flash dove into the alfalfa.