Glen Grobler wrote:
:f: In some ways more important, Donald, now Altea has hope - because she has you, Kate and Bonnie.
Annaliese, excuse me please for writing in your thread, but I wished to retain the context for Glen.
Hi Glen, you are right. She's becoming much more animated and energetic lately. I think her hooves are becoming more sound, and she has lost a lot of weight, so much so that I'm concerned and looking for safe ways to put a little fat on an Insulin Resistant horse without risking founder, and laminitis.
She even jumps over the little pile of tree limbs the snow storms have brought down that we see Bonnie jumping in one of her pictures by Annaliese. And Altea canters away from the jump, something I've never see her do before on her own.
Her eyes look good too. Less pain and discomfort. She's still a gentle soul, and she's still a little worried about what the human wants, but she actually bossed Kare around the other day, nicely.
Kate had been using the hard rubber curry to get some of the looser winter hair off, and set it down to switch to the brush. Altea reached over, very deliberately, with her nose and pushed it off the cart, and then looked at Kate, as Kate describes it, with a look that very plainly said, "I don't like that damn thing, stop hurting me with it. Give me nice soft brushing."
Kate says Altea was quite content after that.
She also reports Altea doing for her what Altea has not done for me. When Kate rolled the toy foam soccer ball around she stopped and told Altea to touch it, and pointed, and Altea put her nose on the ball. She hasn't touched anything on my request with her nose, except her treats, of course.
I still believe that horses carry a genetically imprinted instinct about human women because women were more likely than not the first "tamers." Likely I think even the first riders of the horse.
While I'm the horse feeder and always have 'treat' stashed in my pockets, more often than not, if we both are about the same distance from Altea, she turns toward Kate more often. I have to give the "come" cue to get her away from Kate.
Bonnie, of course, considers us both more articulated and animated scratching posts, but she's starting to mug a little for treats too.
Donald