It’s that time of year when up here in the north the grass is finally starting to show itself. Paddocks are greening up. What appears is usually sturdy grass and inedible weeds. And rocks and mud. This is New England. It’s not enough for a horse to live on. They’ll still need hay.
Horses are greedy for the grass. They put their heads down and don’t want to budge. You might find yourself trying to drag your horse away from the stuff.
What we provide for our horses is usually carefully managed pasture and hand-grazing on lawns. This doesn’t provide for much variety for the horse which is why it is so interesting to watch what Tonka chooses to do when he has a smorgasbord under his feet.
This is the field in front of my house.
There is traditional grass lawn near the house, which segues into a variety of naturalized tall grasses and plants like goldenrod. Below the stonewall the ground is covered with low bush blueberries, wintergreen, lichen, berries and an assortment of other plants. This time of year, though, you notice the tiny bloomers.
Using his whiskers, lips and tongue, Tonka investigates the assortment of forage.
I hold the lead rope loosely and follow wherever he decides to go.
Tonka is eager to eat but he doesn’t stand in one place gorging himself. Free-roaming horses forage like this all day. They’ll cover more than a dozen miles eating and walking, nibbling and moving on.
I’m not sure how Tonka decides where to taste what’s on offer here. Scent? Visual? Both? Whatever, being allowed to graze like this, where there’s choice at his feet and he’s allowed to follow his whims, brings out his curiosity. I think that giving Tonka this time to investigate the field is part of why when I get on and ride he is so bold and sane. I think that horses need this tactile tasting of their world to settle properly into it. In a horse’s everyday world at the stable and in the arena, there’s not a lot of opportunity to explore their environment in this way that is deeply ingrained in their nature. If you have the chance, take your horse out on a sniff and taste walk. You might have to ease them into it. New things can be overwhelming. Find a weedy verge near your usual grazing ground. Explore the outside of the fence line. Give them time to take it all in. Soon you’ll both be having fun.
(If you have challenges with polite hand-grazing, start with this blog.)
Tonka is so polite in the video. My horse does drag me around when he’s hunting for the best spots, sometimes he trots to better spots. I purchased a much longer lead rope than I previously had. I can keep a little extra distance.
I always used my longer lead rope when handling Cider 🙂 Polite happens because when I need Tonka to come away from or ignore grass, there’s usually something better in it for him. “Head up” and “let’s go” are highly reinforced with very yummy things or the opportunity to graze in an even better spot. Those options are not available if he’s pushy.
I love this. I can almost hear his mind thinking that this bit isn’t good but there must be a good bit further away.
It taps into that exploratory curious seeking part of the brain which makes all of us happy when we are able to use it.
So fun! I love hand grazing even though our horses get voluptuous pasture. It amazes me how they can sort out the grass blades from the icky buttercup leaves, and beeline for juicy dandelion!
I know! For such big lips and teeth the eating process is quite select and delicate.