Ro is in Love
Ro, I’m sorry to say, is the barn hussy.
When she’s in season, she’ll throw herself at any gelding on the place—and even some of the mares (she’s a modern, open-minded hussy).
But this is merely lust.
Over the past couple months, Ro has discovered love.
The barn manager got a weanling filly. Last month, we got quite a bit of rain (relatively speaking), and there were stretches where the paddocks were too wet to turn out in. As often as possible, I kicked Ro out on the property for an hour or two to at least let her stretch and wander around some.
More often than not, she disdained the grass (it was wet) and tried to wander back in the barn.
For a while, I thought it was coincidence that she was at the filly’s stall every time I caught her.
Then it became clear that she wasn’t stopping by to say hi to the filly, she was stopping by to do the horsey version of “Ooooooh… wook at de pwecious baaaay-beee! Whoooza cootie pie, den?” (Sorry… I don’t do googly baby talk. They all look like Winston Churchill to me. But you get the gist of it.)
When I would go to kick her back outside, she’d balk—something she never does normally when I kick her out—and look back to the filly.
Ro is fascinated. Entranced. In love.
It’s kind of cute, until I imagine her bringing up baby… “Oh, no, sweetie. We don’t go out in the mud and the rain. Mud and rain are for common ponies, and servants like Lady Who Feeds. Let’s go down the barn aisle and clean up any hay or grain offerings from the other ponies. They know it’s their duty to tithe to us…”
Kate says 18 January 2012
That’s so sweet!
Horses do seem to be fascinated by youngsters sometimes - at one barn, there was a new foal, and on her first walk around the grounds, all the other horses crowded along their paddock fences and called to her and her mother. There was not a horse who wasn’t interested in the new foal - it was really strange, and very, very cute. After a few weeks the novelty wore off for most of them, but some months later a couple of the mares still tried to lure baby away by nickering sweet blandishments ...
Hmm. Maybe Ro wants a baby?