The Holiday is Over....

We're back from one week away.
The mares should be coming out of their heat season and today will be a little like show and tell around the farm. I am hoping to get the horses back out on grass...so fingers crossed...all goes well.
Photos and diary entries to follow!

Meanwhile....here is a photo of a sea turtle, just landed on the beach on Maui...there were a great number of them feeding along the rocks and from time to time they'd come in to rest.

Magnificent!


Now where were we?

I debated on whether to turn the horses out in small groups or simply all at once in the big field as I'd been doing just prior to leaving for Hawaii. Intuition said to turn them all out 'as one' and I did so.

 The mares wandered quietly to the farthest corner of the field and grazed 'gently'. There is much you can tell about how a horse is feeling by the way they tear and chew grass. If they 'rip rip rip and chew' it usually says that they are somewhat anxious about their environment, have been penned up too much for too long or are plain and simply hungry! Even though the horses have been confined to their stalls and walkouts they led out to pasture as though they'd been out the day before. When they dropped their heads to graze it was as I mentioned earlier...quiet and methodical.

Wit chose to stay up on the hill. He too ate gently, enjoying the early morning sun and his freedom.

 From time to time the fillies would trot off, gallop a turn around the field but Wit remained quietly grazing on his hill.

 Venus and Sirius took a lap of the field together while the others continued to graze.

This shows me that the horses are independent  and are not fearful in their environment.

 Time passes, all is still quiet. Wit is off to the right of these frames in a bit of a world of his own.

Wit has turned his back on the mares...a sign he is comfortable and not needing to be tight into the herd energy for support. That is about to change....

 In the east pasture a pair of geese who'd also been grazing notice my camera focus and sound the alarm... They begin their launch into flight...

 ...and so did Witty! Straight to the mares! alarming them out of their grazing reverie. The mares are quite used to the comings and goings of the geese and know that what alarms the geese doesn't usually involve them. Trinity watches the geese, notes there is nothing for them to be worried about and so she along with Jet admonish Wit. He is pushed to the fence line and made to hold that position for a time. Why you might ask? Because the fences represent the areas where the real boogie men live. That is where cougars and other predators might be crouching in wait.

Wit is cut back and forth with just enough pressure to place him on the fence, not over it. Such a fine balancing act these mares are performing!

 When Wit accepts his position as 'wolf bait'....along with Venus who had been wolf bait til Wit's arrival, the mares return to grazing as though nothing happened...and Wit is allowed to be one of the herd.

 I couldn't help notice this cloud formation which resembles an eagle landing in the tree tops which drew my eye to the 'landing point' where indeed the resident eagle pair are perched...watching.

 In the above photo Wit is walking away from the mares and much to my surprise Jet herds him back to the group!

The next step in this journey will begin to take place when the mares are ready to do up close and personal body work with Wit.
Three of the four mares are in season, but you may notice (I know I have) that the behavior of the mares is much more turned down from their last season. The reasons for this are many but the main reason is that when Wit arrived he had a noticeable restriction in flow of energy through gonad and root...this speaks DIRECTLY to the mares' reproductive systems and MAGNIFIES the pain associated with heat seasons...cramps and the like. This is why the mares appeared to dislike Wit.
It wasn't Wit they disliked....but rather the way his energy made their energy feel.
Now that flow is returning to a balanced state the flare ups will be few and far between...and eventually nonexistent!

I look forward to sharing the next leg of this journey...the 'bodywork' will be amazing to witness and I for one cannot wait to see it commence.
The mares will know when it is time.