I had a hack on Ace this morning because the arena was unsafe. He was a bit twitchy, but having spooked once and lost a foot on some black ice, he calmed down a bit and let me call the shots.
Radar's behaviour when he feels that food may be scarce is extraordinarily aggressive. I have never known another horse like it. I don't mean that he bites or kicks, though he would do both if the other two were not so respectful of his authority.
I have seen little bits of this behaviour over the years when it has been cold and grass has been scarce. Last night it all added up together. He refused to come in. Worse, he would not let either of the other two come in and he would not let me catch one of the other two either. Even with a bucket of feed in view, he would not approach it, or allow the others to approach it. Put this together with the fact that if he is fed from the floor instead of from racks, he will eat his fill and then pee on the rest so that no-one else can eat it. And that he attempts to drive the other two off the racks until he realises that he cannot protect all four racks and then he settles down.
I'm sure now that he is aware what a big strong horse he is. And he knows that if he can keep the other two away from food for long enough, that they will weaken and he will then be able to keep it all for himself. And he will temporarily deprive himself of any food, or ruin future food by peeing on it, while he waits for them to weaken before he does.
What an incredible strategy! Last horse standing - Radar.
Was he a Venture Capitalist in a past life?
ReplyDeleteER, SH will be laughing all day about that comment!
DeleteC
Love English Rider's comment!! *lol*
ReplyDeleteThe peeing part is pretty assertive, that's for sure. You do need the four stations of hay, though. That way there is always a place for the other two.
Tucker chases Chance into the riding arena and makes him stand out there when it's time for feed. Chance's stall (box) is on the other side of the barn so it's no invasion of Tucker's territory, but nonetheless, he sends Chance off, then goes into his own stall to eat. Only then does Chance come into the barn paddock to go to his own feed.
It's not as if anyone is starving at your farm, I'm sure. Must be instinctive survival urge kicking in. My Tucker's just a natural bully.....
Interestingly, Ace does what Tucker does to Woody, but normally Radar doesn't. It's related to very cold spells and the anticipation of lack of food. He's avery interesting character, our Radar, not quite as much a gentleman as he appears under that dark cloak ......
DeleteC