Why is This Horse Smiling?


One of my daily morning chores is to clean and refill all of the water
buckets around the farm.
(that and a whole list of other chores)

Each morning I head up to Becky's
where our fainting goat bucks are housed at present.
Their pen is next to Becky's horses' dry lot.
Frequently I am met with this scene....

Ava, Becky's 4 year old Thoroughbred/Percheron cross

Duffy, Becky's elderly horse of unknown breeding

This sight always startles me as my horses rarely sleep like this during the day.
But, her horses are out to pasture all night,
so by morning they are ready to sleep.
And, they are excellent sleepers...
especially Ava, who often looks dead
(except for the smile on her lips....must be really good dreams!)
My rattling around usually rouses them...


Neither of them actually bother to get up, however.

I love to see animals who are so secure that they let their guard down.

I also wanted to show you how lovely our bucks are looking right now.
Smoochie
Skip

With the exception of Skip's beard, they are quite clean and white...
highly unusual for these bucks,
who will soon spend an inordinate amount of time
urinating on their beards, front legs, and chests
in order to be more attractive to their female counterparts.

They stay stinky for most of the year following mating season.
It is only in the few weeks leading up to the next mating season that
they are once again clean and presentable...
at least by human standards!
And lastly, I made a startling discovery the other day.
Trumpet vines grow a bean pod (non-edible of course).
Why have I never noticed this before?


Comments

Anke said…
When you say " you love to see animals who are so secure they let their guard down", I can only think of our dog. Harley was six month old when we adopted her and extremely frightened of everything and everybody. It took month for her to let her guard down with me and even longer with everybody else. We have had her now for a little over four years and she now seems like a happy dog. Poor baby, who knows what happened to her before we adopted her.
I love goats, but have never been able to get past the smell of the males...lol... I had a female for years, she was a lovely girl.
Unknown said…
I just asked someone the other day, when I saw a horse lying down, if it was ok. Thanks for the info and I LOVE IT that you woke the horses up!!!
This N That said…
Very handsome goats indeed..hard to believe the girls are more attracted to the coming version...
Country Gal said…
I came for a visit curtasy of Lilac Lane Cottage ! Your blog and home is wonderful ! I love your aprons, my mum always wore aprons when I was growing up on our hobby farm ! You have capptured another follower in me! Have a wonderful day !
Country Gal said…
Oh P.S you are the first other then me mum to call an apron a pinny !Thats what I have always known them to be called that is the Britsh word for apron , How wonderful and yes me mum and dad were Brits lol ! Have a wonderful day !
Kelly said…
I noticed our Teddy starting to smell a bit bucky yesterday. Of course his pasture buddy Edward has been getting some unwanted attention, if you know what I mean. I love your bucks horns. They are beautiful.
No I didn't know Trumpets have pods. How cool!