A New Year for Friendships to Grow

Jan 03, 2010

It has been over a month now that we have had Image and Ember out with our older girls in the big pasture.

Ember

Image

It has been interesting to see how the addition of the kids would change the hierarchy within the herd. Shy Ann continues her Alpha female status. Touchy continues as second in command, but would really like to just be left alone. Abi is no longer the last one in the pecking order. Surprisingly, Image is next and Ember comes in last. Image and Ember tend to stick together and don’t hang out with the older girls all of the time. Abi probably has the most interest in the kids and will try to initiate conversation with Ember.

IMAGE CAPTION

Even though Ember craves that interaction, she is still a little unsure of the situation and will generally leave the area quickly. I have also seen Shy Ann trying to herd the kids around, but with 4 to watch over now with her Alpha status, it gets a little difficult when they all go in different directions. So, she stays somewhat content in moving Abi around.

We use an ATV to feed the horses their hay in the winter. The older girls know that the ATV means it’s time to eat. They love running along side of Terry, kicking up and having fun.

Abi and Shy Ann running along with Terry

So far the kids just watch this from a distance.

Abi and Shy Ann playing before mealtime

Image and Ember hang back, not sure they want to join in the big girls' play

We still bring the kids over to the corral every day for continued fun and games in the round pen. That means crossing the creek to get to the corral area. Image knows that there will be a treat involved so he usually likes to be first.

Image was very clear with Ember that he was going first

The way is clear for Ember to cross

A few days ago the heavy rains left the creek very high and the corral and paddock area a muddy mess.

Image at the edge of the swollen creek

So we decided to work on our training in the pasture. Terry took the big girls over the back pasture so we would be able to concentrate on the kids and them on us without any drama in the open area. We practiced leading and making our figure 8’s. After a job well done, rewards of feed and hay were enjoyed greatly!

We decided it was time to open up the back pasture for the kids. We have always left this pasture open to the big girls, but thought it best to let the kids get used to the regular pasture before introducing them to more places to run. The big girls have just been going over there on their own and it took a couple of days for Ember to join them. Image seemed to have no interest at all in going over there, so he stayed in the main pasture. When he looked up and couldn’t see his cousin, he cried out to her. He ran closer to the fence that separated them. Ember heard his cry and came running to him.

Ember on the left side of the fence, Image on the right. They are hard to see but they are there.

He was clearly confused as to how to get to her. He ran up and down the fence line and finally settled in on a place up at the top of the pasture where there are cedar, crabapple and apple trees.

Image by a cedar tree, what I think is his comfort zone

This is one of the places that Ember and Image spend their nights, tucked in to the cedar trees. I think it is probably the closest they have come to feeling like their mountain home, when they used to tuck in against the Douglas Fir trees. Ember came running over to Image and they spoke to one another.

Ember telling Image to "Come on!"

I can only imagine what they were saying. Perhaps Ember was telling Image: “Come on! There’s more grass over here!” Image saying back: “yeah, but how do I get there?”

Terry and I were already halfway out there to help him get to the opening to the back pasture. We put a lead rope on him and started walking him down to the opening. Ember tore down to the opening and came up to help us get her cousin to the other side.

Ember coming down to help us show Image the way

Ember tore around the corner and circled around us, urging Image to then follow

It was if she was saying: “Come on! It’s up here!”

Ember led the way to this new pasture

This actually turned out to be a good thing as we were able to help Image figure out the new boundaries of this part of the pasture. We walked them to the far side and started up the hill.