The weather here is awful at the moment, windy, wet and cold. The horses understandably don't feel like doing anything and we didn't either. Spice is refusing to use the man made shelter we have in the field so was soaking wet and shivering when i arrived so i dried her off best i could and put her lightweight back on.
It struck me today just how much Spice relies her natural instincts more than anything else as in situations like this as even when i tried to tempt her into the shelter with some hay she didn't budge. In her eyes, she had positioned herself with her bum against the rain and the wind and protected herself from the elements as best she could and as far as she could see there was no better option.
This led me to ask myself the question...when keeping a domesticated horse, is the natural way always the best way? For in the wild Spice and the rest of the herd would have found a woodland to shelter in long before the rain and wind probably even started but when your horse doesn't have access to all the things nature provides in the wild you have to make up for these things in some way or another. For if i hadn't have put a rug on her she'd have been stood there for the next few hours shivering and freezing cold and possibly even ending up making herself ill...
Possible reasons why i think Spice wont use the shelter are...
Her reluctance to being in an enclosed space, feeling trapped - no where to run.
Fear - the scary noises caused by the rain and the wind on the roof.
As there's no way i can prevent these things the only thing i can do is keep her in her rug until the drier weather comes which will hopefully be in the not too distant future!
Friday 2 April 2010
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