Thursday, February 2, 2017

Blue And Remy In Winter

Because they are tubby, Remy and Blue get only a half cup of grain each morning - enough for their needs, but not enough for their tastes, especially not for Remy. As soon as he is released from his "dining stall," he rushes over to where the cattle ate and tries to find grain which I missed when I swept up:

Remy spends most of his time outdoors, picking through waste hay or trying to find something edible beneath the snow. He has plenty of good hay in the barn, but his instincts send him out to forage:

"Yeah, that's me - the great forager:"

Remy seems oblivious to the cold and wind, more hardy than even the cattle:

When I give the herd a new hay bale, I break open the frozen exterior and toss a bit of fresh hay away from the bale feeder, for Blue and Remy. They're too small to fight the big cattle for a position at the salad bar:

I seldom put them in their stall overnight except on especially cold, windy nights or when there is a freezing rain. That's their stall at the end of the aisle, behind the red door (which used to be a sign for the previous property owner's candle store). The stall has its own lights, water bucket and hay feeder, as well as soft, dry bedding:

The stall's new hay feeder, modeled after Christmas nativity scenes, has worked perfectly:

The only problem has been that meek and mild Blue sometimes transforms into the Incredible Hulk when there is food, and then he won't let Remy get to the hay. But other times they get along fine:

I chuckled at this sight of Remy staring through the fence. He knew the fence ended right next to him and yet he looked longingly through it as if he couldn't figure out to get  how to the other side. Or maybe he was really looking at all the ice and wondering if he wanted to risk walking over there:

We've had numerous snowstorms and numerous melts, leaving dead grass showing, interspersed with sheets of ice. Blue enjoys grazing on the dead grass even though he has plenty of good hay available:

I saw a Facebook video of a horse playing with a squeaky rubber chicken, so I bought a similar toy for Remy and presented it to him. He approached it cautiously:

He squeaked it a few times and then spit it out. That was the end of the matter as far as he was concerned. I brought the toy in for the dogs (who also weren't overly thrilled with it). I think he needs a softer toy which will be easier to bite and will squeak if he just shakes it. I'll keep a lookout for one:

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