Snack Time
Posted by Mikki on Mar 06 2006 at 04:33 pm | Tagged as: General
We finally got the pasture bush-hogged today. We moved Valentine into the barn to get him away from the scary tractor. So there I was, minding my own business – in fact, protecting my precious horse from the ferocious Tractor-Monster in his pasture by standing in front of his stall, reassuring him. I was facing the other way (my mistake) and he nuzzled my hair. A little gross, but kinda sweet. Until he suddenly stuck his muzzle under my hair and BIT MY EAR. I don’t know who was more shocked when his snack jumped and yelled.
No harm done. Ear’s still there, and I reminded him that he is an herbivore and therefore shouldn’t be snacking on ears or fingers.
Now I know why cowboys always wear hats.
[…] It’s a different story, however, when a horse bites a human. Our skin isn’t nearly as tough as horsehide, and I can tell you from personal experience that horse bites hurt. Now, horses bite humans for pretty much the same reasons that they bite each other. We are, after all part of their herd, and they need to communicate with us too. They will nip you in a friendly way to say “hi.” They will nip you if you’re standing somewhere they don’t want you to stand to politely ask you to move. They will nip in anger or to show you they’re the boss. As you can guess, this natural behavior is another way that they can unwittingly hurt us simply because they are so much bigger and more powerful. So naturally, you need to discourage that behavior. […]