Tuesday, November 15, 2005, 18:44
Plan B
Well, so much for that. Here I was thinking that it would be a few weeks or months before I would know whether the experiment of turning Isabelle and Kajun together would work so they could share the barn.
It's less than 24 hours later, and I now know it won't work.
Last night, seeing as Kajun was in Isabelle's pasture -- and Isabelle was in Kajun's pasture -- I struck upon the idea of closing the gate and leaving them where they were so Isabelle could explore the barn at her leisure and not have to worry about Kajun pushing her into a corner and then biting and kicking her. After all, Kajun has spent the late fall, winter and early spring in that pasture for the last 10 years, so it ought to work out fine. Right?
Right.
As soon as Kajun realized he was shut away from the barn, he started running around the perimeter of the two-acre pasture at top speed. This is a horse whose heart is only pumping maybe two-thirds of the blood it should be pumping, so I'm thinking he ought not to be running around like that. After the third lap, I told Randy we would have to get him out of there before he ended up killing himself.
It took a little doing, but we finally convinced Kajun to stop running (he was winded, weak and shaking) -- got them switched around -- and once things were back to normal, Kajun settled down. Isabelle, bless her heart, was ready to go with the flow and was perfectly willing to stay in Kajun's pasture and to eat her hay and grain by the barn.
"Now what?" Randy said.
We spent the next half an hour discussing various plans -- build a stall in the barn so that Kajun could be in the stall and Isabelle would feel safe to be in the barn without Kajun being able to bite and kick her.
"I don't think that will work," Randy said after a while. "Kajun will probably have a conniption fit because things are not 'normal.'"
"I suppose you're right," I said.
"What about building a flat panel windbreak along the fence?" I said.
"What if that's not where Isabelle wants to stand and doesn't use it?" Randy replied.
"What if I tie Kajun in the barn so he can't chase Isabelle out when the weather is bad?" I said.
"He'll probably come out of the barn dragging the beam that you tied him to," Randy said.
"Probably," I said.
"What if we put Isabelle's hay in a haybag and tie the haybag in the shelter so she eats her hay right in the shelter," Randy said.
The haybag?
The haybag!
I have used the haybag for Kajun to keep his hay off the floor and to keep him from pushing it out the barn door when it's windy or snowy or rainy, but to tell you the truth it doesn't work real well because Kajun is afraid of it. He is frightened to death of his hay swinging back and forth [sigh]. I have watched other horses eat out of haybags, and they have all seemed to think it was a great fun and something of a challenge. Not Kajun.
"Well, sure, I can try tying the haybag in Isabelle's shelter," I said.
So that's what I did this morning. Isabelle was not one bit afraid of the haybag. When she started to pull hay out of it, of course, she pushed it away from her because it was hanging, suspended from the top of the shelter. She tried again. Same thing.
Then she stood back and looked at it for a while and then tried it yet again.
Once more she stepped back and contemplated her hay with a puzzled expression on her face.
I could see she was getting frustrated because she couldn't get a really big mouthful of hay, so I tied the bottom on both sides to keep it from swinging so much.
Suddenly Isabelle could get a big mouthful of hay, and she was content to keep right on eating out of the haybag.
Time will tell if this will work to keep her in her shelter, especially when the weather is bad.
It's supposed to start snowing later this afternoon. Snow! And here I was mowing the lawn in a tank top on Saturday when it was 60 degrees. And now snow! And it's supposed to be windy tonight, too.
If you would like to see pictures of Isabelle's haybag -- and Isabelle (I tried to get a picture of her eating out of the haybag, but of course, just as soon as I walked out there with the camera, she decided she'd had enough of a snack for the time being and walked away) you can see them here (click on the images to see larger images).
LeAnn R. Ralph
Monday, November 14, 2005, 21:36
An Experiment
I have spent much of my time today going to the window in the bedroom -- or going outside -- to see what the horses are doing.
I opened both gates this morning so Isabelle and Kajun would have access to all three pastures.
At first, Kajun went into Isabelle's pasture to explore, and Isabelle went into Kajun's pasture to explore, and they ignored each other.
But then, once when I went outside to check on what they were doing, I was just in time to see Kajun crowding Isabelle into a corner so he could kick the heck out of her.
Isabelle managed to slip past him and ran away. Kajun gave chase, but because she is younger (by 22 years!) and more agile, she was able to stay ahead of him. When he got to the muddy spot by the gates, he slipped, and that brought him up short. He apparently decided to give up for the time being. It's probably a good thing that his feet are still sore from being trimmed a few weeks ago. Otherwise he might be more aggressive than he is -- and that's plenty aggressive, anyway, as far as I'm concerned. Isabelle, I think, would just like to get along and be friends.
I am truly disappointed in the "grumpy old man." I really did think he would be thrilled to have company. Oh, sure, he *is* thrilled -- thrilled to have someone he can bite and kick and chase around. Poor little Isabelle! I am hoping that she soon gets up enough to courage to plant one well-placed kick. Not hard enough to make Kajun lame, but hard enough to convince him that he ought to leave her alone.
I will not know the outcome of this experiment for many weeks -- or maybe even months (unlike "The Experiment" in Cream of the Crop where we knew the outcome in 24 hours!)
We have a perfectly good barn, but time will tell whether they will get along well enough to stand in it together. During the last two wind storms, when we experienced sustained winds of 30 mph and gusts up to 40 mph or more, Isabelle stood next to the fence, pretty much in the full force of the wind. She is too young, I think, to realize that her shelter would break the wind, even though we have tried to show her. Seeing as we are not horses, it is much harder to get the message through to her! I also suspect that she has never had any experience with being in a barn. She was a nervous wreck the first night she was here in late August when we put her in the barn, but calmed right down when I put her outside.
But -- all is not lost. If Kajun and Isabelle cannot get along well enough to share the barn, and Isabelle does not figure out that she ought to stand in her shelter -- we can always buy a horse blanket for Isabelle. I would not leave it on her all of the time. I would only put it on her when the temperature is below zero and we have a windchill far below zero. If I left the blanket on her all of the time, she would lose her winter hair. And it's not practical to try to leave a blanket on an outside horse all winter.
Of course, if we end up getting a blanket for Isabelle, then I can spend my time running outside day and night to make sure that the buckles are still buckled and that the blanket is still on the horse. . .
LeAnn R. Ralph
P.S. If you want to make homemade crescent rolls for Thanksgiving check out this recipe for -- Sour Cream Crescent Rolls