Let me tell you why.
My morning routine is pretty consistent- feed, muck out, open doors to paddock. Irish is on his usual mix of oats and a vitamin. Carmen gets a mix of oats, vitamin and Fat N Fibre. I added the F&F as she wasn't gaining as much as I'd like. Both Irish and Carmen tend to leave a wee bit in their bins. When I let them out they switch stalls and finish off each others feed. I was finding it amusing. Since I wasn't worried about either getting fat I let it go. I even decided to try adding a bit of F&F to Irish's feed and see how he tolerated it.
That's the background. This morning I did my usual feeding. giving Irish some F&F in his feed. But Carmen wasn't eating. She just stood there looking at me.
oh oh.
I carried on mucking out but she didn't eat. .I put in some of the 'good hay' (second cut) but she wouldn't touch it. I checked her gut-there were sounds but now I'm starting to worry. Irish, in the meantime is munching away happy as a clam. I muck out his stall. Carmen would take a bite but stop.
damn.
I put on her halter and led her outside. As soon as she hit the grass her head went down and she ate like a starving creature. I let her graze for a bit to see if she would stop.
Irish is watching us from his stall and is NOT amused.
Hey! that's not FAIR! I want grass. I'm the senior horse I should go out first!
After a few minutes I brought her back in. She ate a bit more, but not much. I decided to see what would happen if I opened the doors.
As soon as both doors were open Irish went into her stall and cleaned up her feed. She went into his and dove into his feed. With a sigh, I added more to his bucket.
Explain to me why Irish's food is better even though it's the exact same thing?!
I think that she's trying to drive me nuts.
 |
| Carmen: why is she muttering? Irish: just don't worry about it. She does it all the time. |
Oh dear! I have a picky eater too and it drives me crazy!
ReplyDeleteMy donkeys do the same thing with their vitamins each morning. Connor will be happy to explain it: the stolen toy is always the most fun:)
ReplyDeleteHi Terrsa! First time commenting on your blog. :) I'm loving your journey with Carmen. I wanted to add, esp afte your previous post: this might be another hormonal sign in your beautiful girl. I have one mare that gets especially picky about her own food when she's in heat, and another that will get extra sassy when it's that time of the month. So this could definitely be related to that too. :)
ReplyDeletePlease excuse all of the orthographic errors in my comment! They aré the result of typing on a phone with a cracked screen in a hurry while at work! >.<
Deleteno worries. I have typed comments using my phone and then realized that I made no sense whatsoever!
DeleteHa! Too funny! They have a way of playing head games with us. My Tennessee Walker only sips att her water but will swill down the water from the other's buckets....go figure. Mares can be funny.
ReplyDeleteEquine logic.
ReplyDeleteSame phenomenon as why the discarded stomped-on hay picked off the stall floor, is super desirable again once it's underneath a pile of poop in the manure cart.
Extra points if you dump the cart to get it. ;D
When I walk both horses in hand outside of their 28 acre pasture, it never fails that they both are trying to eat the same grass. in the same spot. I think their food issues are a very important part of driving us crazy...and it sounds like Carmen is right on track LOL
ReplyDeleteMy horses do that too. Makes me laugh.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to know I'm not the only one who had horses that drive her nuts at feeding time. I try to let them out of their stalls after everyone is finished, but there is always one or two that take twice as long as the others to eat. I spread the remaining hay around and the game of musical chairs begins.
ReplyDeleteRock will actually stand at his gate and stare up at the window of the house pretending like he's done eating, so that I will come out and open all the stalls. He's not actually done with his rations. He just wants to get to the other horses' grain before they eat it all.
Lostine has such bad teeth and is such a sloppy eater that the majority of her grain ends up on the ground where the wild rabbits eat it.
well I'm glad that it's not just me and my 'weird' horses!
ReplyDeleteLOL! Silly Carmen!! I'm glad I don't have to worry about that. My horse is a pig that will eat anything and everything. :)
ReplyDelete