I let Boomer out into the 16 acre pasture for a few hours yesterday to stretch his legs and relax a little. I thought he could use a mini vacation, plus it was too cold to ride.
I turned him out with another boarder's horse who is also kept in a small paddock. Though the two usually fight over their paddock fence, they ignored each other and went straight to grazing. After about 30 minutes, the three other horses in the pasture came to meet and greet. Everything went well for Boomer. Though, his neighbor friend was promptly put in his place by one of the pasture horses. He continued to stay on the fringes of the herd after that. Boomer made fast friends with Pete, a chestnut rescue horse. They grazed together and wandered around.
Boomer also met a hot wire fence for the first time. He sniffed it, touched it, jumped/scrambled back and snorted pretty loudly! Then he trotted off and grazed a bit before going back to the fence, stretching his neck until he was about 3 feet away, snorted and spooked again! It was pretty funny! The horses ran just a bit, not as much as I expected. The transition really went smoothly for the herd.
When we went to catch the two horses and bring them in, I had John take a treat bucket to distract the other pasture horses (just for curiosity, he didn't feed them any). They followed him around like little puppy dogs!
Just for good measure, here is Charley in a sunbeam. He naps in this same sunbeam every morning while I check my blogs and emails!
I turned him out with another boarder's horse who is also kept in a small paddock. Though the two usually fight over their paddock fence, they ignored each other and went straight to grazing. After about 30 minutes, the three other horses in the pasture came to meet and greet. Everything went well for Boomer. Though, his neighbor friend was promptly put in his place by one of the pasture horses. He continued to stay on the fringes of the herd after that. Boomer made fast friends with Pete, a chestnut rescue horse. They grazed together and wandered around.
Boomer also met a hot wire fence for the first time. He sniffed it, touched it, jumped/scrambled back and snorted pretty loudly! Then he trotted off and grazed a bit before going back to the fence, stretching his neck until he was about 3 feet away, snorted and spooked again! It was pretty funny! The horses ran just a bit, not as much as I expected. The transition really went smoothly for the herd.
When we went to catch the two horses and bring them in, I had John take a treat bucket to distract the other pasture horses (just for curiosity, he didn't feed them any). They followed him around like little puppy dogs!
Just for good measure, here is Charley in a sunbeam. He naps in this same sunbeam every morning while I check my blogs and emails!
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