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Posted on 06/19/2006 8:46:45 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
This is a horse chat thread where we share ideas, ask for input from other horsemen, and talk about our riding and horse-keeping. We have a lot of different kinds of riders and horses, and a lot to share. In the previous threads we have had a great time talking through lessons, training, horse lamenesses, illnesses and pregnancies... and always sharing pictures and stories.
I always have a link to this thread on my profile page, so if you have something to say and can't find the thread in latest posts… look for it there and wake the thread up!
I also have a ping list for horse threads that are of interest, and MissTargets will now be pinging everyone most mornings. Let MissTargets and/or me know if you would like to be on the ping list. As FreeRepublic is a political site, our politics and other issues will probably blend in…. There are many issues for horsemen that touch politics… land use, animal rights/abuse cases that make the news…. Legislation that might affect horse owners.
So... like the previous threads, this is intended as fun place to come and share stories, pictures, questions and chit-chat, unguided and unmoderated and that we come together here as friends. There are lots of ways of doing things and we all have our quirks, tricks and specialties that are neat to learn about.
Previous threads:
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - thread ONE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread TWO!
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread THREE!
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FOUR
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FIVE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SIX
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SEVEN
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread EIGHT
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread NINE
New folk and occasional posters, jump right in and introduce yourselves, tell us about your horses, and post pictures if you've got them!
I pretty much agree, but have wondered why, they will walk into some puddles willingly but others they will do their best to stay out of...
Becky
You think there's a difference in the puddle, or the mood from day to day?
I think it has to do with the puddle....I've come across several puddles in one day, and can get a different response. I've also noticed the puddles they don't like, is always the same puddles....
I've wondered if it has to do with the puddle being clear vs. not clear....
Harley is really bad about not wanting to walk thru the puddles that I have in my driveway...when I have puddles:). But other puddles he has no problem with...
Becky
But remember when our pasture gate area flooded, Bay didn't want to walk through that, loose, but Cyn, who will skirt all puddles she can on trail, did, and so did the pony. Bay skirted around the edge.
Sometimes they just don't make sense. :~)
Well, I know it sounds funny, but that's basically how they test the eyesight of babies. In either case I don't know exactly how they determine what the subject is seeing based on their reaction, but I think it'd be interesting to see it done.
LOL - I've tried too, to take video of Gidget, and even that isn't the same. I just chuckle imagining you describing your trip and our crazy dog :~).
As for testing horses with photos... I just can't imagine how that works.
I don't know if mine would walk into one willingly like that, but I don't think there would be a problem with that one if I asked them to go in...hard to say.
Thinking about them spooking at something they have been past numerous times is also a puzzlement. I remember one time I was riding with several other people. I was on Belle. We were just a short distance from the house, and it was just about dark, and she spooked at a rock, it seemed anyway, that she had been past 1000's of times. It had been a long ride, and I had taken my feet out of the stirrups to stretch, she just about dumped me:) But also, I wondered, since a horse has such a wide range of sight, maybe it just seems like we know what they are looking at...do we really know what they are looking at??
Becky
I think the thing with puddles and horses is that they know that most of the time there's at least some degree of sucking mud at the bottom of them and they don't like that feeling of having something pulling-on/trapping their feet. And unless they've been taught that something worse than stepping in a little mud is going to happen if they DON'T go through it, then they'll avoid it if at all possible. That's my theory anyways.
I usually like to think we can tell what they're looking at by watching their ears. Their ears point where they're looking... Maybe all you saw was a rock, but maybe there was a critter smell, something that had just been there... I don't know, it's a puzzle!
I thought the first paragraph of the article amusing too. When they were talking about "who to trust"....LOL...then it went on to say you could trust the article...:)
Yeah, your crazy dog, has been something I get frustrated about trying to describe:). You can tell people just don't get it:)...they comment like, Wow, that is cool...but it's obvious they didn't quit understand, that the dog really really watches, understand, and wants to watch, and has favorites...LOL, I still think you should try to get some scientific type person to observe her.
Would she so the same, in a different enviroment, or just at home?
Becky
She watches the TV at the beach house too... I think she'd watch any TV.
The other day she surprised even me with how much she understands about what she's seeing. She barks at baseball, you know... either the throwing of the ball, or the swinging of the bat, she barks because of the violence of it I think... people being aggressive with 'weapons' like a bat. But there was a commercial on where a Mariners player was just talking, selling cars. She recognized the ~uniform~ of a baseball player and barked at him.
I've thought the mud might have something to do with it too. Harley won't even walk where the puddles in my driveway are when they are dry...He always goes off to the side, even if I'm cueing him to go into those spots....Some days I just go with him, other days, when I feel like it, I'll work at making him go thru those low spots...he'll jump them, back up, got sidewise...whatever to avoid it. The most I've ever gotten him to do is one foot.
If I'd work on it more consistently, I could proably get him over it...but for the most part he's not bad out on trail, so it's just when the mood strikes me:)
Becky
LOL...knowing her, I'd say she recognized the uniform of a team she doesn't root for:)
Becky
If she starts showing preferences for particular players, I'm going to start watching what I say around her :~)
Becky
Hey, I had a fish (a big Oscar) that recognized the difference between us (me and my husband) and other people. He'd do his little fishy-feed-me-dance when he saw us but not when somebody else stood in front of the tank. So go figure!
The pic above is good because it shows the scratches she's made with her claws doing this...
They had an episode of the Dog Whisperer where they had a dog that watched TV and they wanted to make her stop. I thought it was kindof sad because Gidget gets so much enjoyment out of it. That dog had the wrong owners!
So it doesn't take a large size brain to recognize different people :~) Oscars are so cool, they get so big. What did you feed him?
That is sad....The dog is more entertaining to watch then anything on TV:)
Becky
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