behavior


A horse drinks up to 10 gallons of water a day, so to make sure that Tonka is never thirsty, there are two buckets in his stall. Each morning, what wasn’t imbibed the previous day is dumped out, the buckets given a quick swish with a scrub brush, and fresh […]

Bucket Fuss


Tonka rarely reacts dramatically to the new or the suddenly frightening. He’s a horse, so things will scare him. But if they do, after a brief startle, he’ll thoughtfully assess the situation. Usually he concludes that all is well. Partly this is do to his innate personality. Just like people […]

Tonka Mentors Youngsters


Last week Tonka’s veterinarian, Monika, and her vet tech in training, Sara, came out to do some work on him. Tonka was due for maintenance to keep his body functioning well: shockwave over his back, and hock injections. Because Tonka recently has shown signs of that intermittent left-front lameness returning, […]

Training Horses for Veterinary Visits



Horses evolved as grassland animals. Their safety was dependent on being able to see the movement of predators like wolves and mountain lions, and so they prefer open spaces. They are herd animals, reliant on their family and friends to be watchful and to use their collective experience to make […]

Tonka Takes Me For a Walk


Have you ever met someone in their 70s for the first time and your immediate reaction was what a lovely man? Conversely, have you had someone walk your way and your gut reaction was to not make eye contact for fear a having to speak to them, sure that their […]

Horses Show Stress In Their Faces


A couple of new horses arrived at the barn and it was decided that it would be best if Tonka moved to a different stall so that a young filly could be stabled between two mature mares (and so that Tonka didn’t have to live between the girls!) Tonka was […]

Tonka Moves Stalls



It’s now officially spring. But we horse people already knew that. The shedding!   Here in the north our horses’ manes are waxy with gunk, their bodies remain dusty and grimy no matter how much grooming we do, and their white hocks (for those of us “lucky” enough to have […]

Bathtime


The only thing predictable about the weather in March in Maine is that it is unpredictable. Two days ago it was warm enough for Tonka to have his first naked roll of 2021.   A day later it’s 10 degrees F with wind gusts of 35 mph and the horses […]

Weather and Behavior


Tonka had something sticky on his nose, so I used his favorite soft curry on it.   Seven years with Tonka, and I never knew that he liked this. Now he wants me to curry his nose everyday.   A relationship is never static if you pay attention to what […]

Something New: Nose Grooming