At the place we live horses are pastured in various sized herds, this is our"family". Like most families there is a boss. In most herds you can watch for a bit and tell who the boss is...well my little band of merry horses is a bit different. Our pasture has three geldings and one little filly in it. That in itself is unusual, you see we don't do any feuding over that little filly. We all are her favorite depending on what is going on and we are okay with that. But I am pigeon walking a bit, we are talking about who the boss is.Well first of all we have to decide what a boss is. Is it the horse that bosses every one around with an iron hoof and jaws of steel? Nope, that is just a bully and no horse really likes them. We don't have one of those in our pasture.
Is it the horse that gets every one to playing around with their antics? Nope that is the pasture clown and as you can figure out that is Jack's job.
Is it the horse that all the other horses defer to when it comes over to eat or drink? It could be...in our pasture that horse is Salty.
The DOR has been watching us over the past year, really trying to figure out who the boss is. She has wondered if it has to do with the day or the situation. She thinks she has figured it out finally. I could have saved her a whole bunch of cogitating if she would have just followed me around sooner. I am the boss! Yep this old guy still rules the roost, I just do it differently than what she is used to seeing.
I have learned not to hassle over every little thing. If it isn't going to matter in 25 years it probably isn't that big of a deal now. So if one of the horses wants to share my food and I am not starving I let them. You see once they get busy eating I can just go right back to munching away and after I drool on them a bit they usually leave.
I don't have to shake my head, pin my ears, kick or bit to get horses to move. I am a bit like a sherman tank, I set my eye on where I want to go and just start walking...you can either move or get run over-the choice is yours.
I don't go running across the pasture if something startles me. I trot off a few paces and then turn to check things out. This is how you figure out what is dangerous and what is safe.
I am the horse that all the other horses turn to if they are uneasy about something. It isn't wisdom that comes with age that makes them look to me, it is just my attitude. The DOR says I am what the old man from Mark Rashid's books would be if he was a horse...whatever, I am just doin what I do. I am the "invisible boss", most people wouldn't realize that I am in charge unless they really dedicated some time to figuring out who runs our little pasture. At first glance most people would think it is Salty, he would like to think he is the boss but he is just snarky.
I don't mind being the leader, it gives me something to do. Some days the two young twerps tire me out, so I camp out with Salty under the trees. Well I have to go teach the little filly a few manners, she is getting a bit pushy wth Jack.
Why don't you guys write in to tell us about your herd leader...it will be fun to read about.
Life is so good! Oh and Jack told me to remember to say: Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR
7 comments:
Now that's the kind of boss we'd all like to have!
the lead horse or "boss of my gang is Stryker, big old tank and very easy going ...till he's not then everyone settles in a big hurry! you can read about him here,
http://fernvalley01.blogspot.com/2009/06/i-has-backups.html
fernvalley01,
I enjoyed reading about Stryker. He seems like a wonderful horse to "have your back"...thanks for sharing
We have two pasture families. In the "girls' pasture" (4 fillies, ages 2 to 4), Kate rules the roost, usually by simply throwing her weight around (like you, Freedom). But she sets a good example for how to behave (most of the time).
In the pediatric/geriatric pasture, right now, Jackson thinks he's in charge--and he is, in a way, by merit of being 3 weeks old and cute as a button, and getting his mama Misty to run back and forth when he's not where he's supposed to be, and getting pensioner RT to run away (to avoid the wrath of mama Misty). But he's got some learnin' to do!
Freedom, I think you could give us a lessons on leadership. Thanks!
Dear Invisible Boss, Thanks for your lessons on how to handle life! You sure have it figured out.
You know, my DOR is going to have to figure this out one day! When Beauty and Sunni are together in the arena, Beauty is boss! When Beauty and Gigondas are together, Gigondas is boss. I would be boss if ALL the horses were together because, well, I'm the smartest! Tee hee!
~~Scout~~
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