They hadn’t seen the dump truck, yet.
What absolutely kills me and what proves to me that equine relationships are infinitely more nuanced and dimensional than we care to notice is that in quite a few situations, these horses are antagonistic, particularly around food. But here, they’re in very close proximity, and Siri even touches Fi (what feels like a “check-in/needing reassurance” vibe to me) in a way that would not happen under normal circumstances that I know of. Not in my presence, anyway (I am a definite change in environment).
So if your horses fight with each other but panic when they’re separated, know that their relationship is actually quite complex, and their management and environment has a tremendous impact on their behavior.
The hay under the tarp came from the field under the truck-turned-temporary-hay-shed (the track middle, which we haven’t baled before) and we’re going to try an ad lib hay situation, or something close to it, with the very coarse, very mature hay that came off the field yesterday (which is pretty late). I haven’t gotten this to work before, but I’ve always had (unfortunately) more palatable hay, so maybe it’s enough of a difference. If not, we tried to make it better for them, and we’ll have to try something else.
Also, if you want enrichment, get you a dump truck full of hay in your pasture.
Also also, no, the pony will not wear a fly mask. Not even for a minute.
