The Trouble with Smart Ponies

Hmm, is that where they are hiding the cat food?

I really enjoy smart ponies, but they can cause such trouble. In April '11 we moved Rosemary to our friends farm for the latter part of her pregnancy. They live on the property and have an apartment that we could use. The only issue was that they had 4 horses of their own and the barn only had 4 stalls. So Rosemary shared a stall with the other cob mare Addie. To give them more room, we let them roam the barn aisle. Everything was fine until Rosemary found the cat food. Oh yes she loves cat food. Well to keep her out of the cat food, we moved it outside the barn.

Smart girl figured out where we put it. Next thing we knew our friend was calling us saying that Rosemary was out in the yard. And this started the  try to out think Rosemary tactics. We tried using the big fan to block, but she is little and could fit by. She figured out that a board across the opening would go up if she pushed. Finally we tried putting an 18in bench in front of the door. 10 months pregnant Rosemary gave us all a laugh by carefully putting her head under the rope then slowing climbing over the bench. So we finally had to go with a vinyl picket fence. It worked, but she still looked for ways.

We found out later that her dam was the same way. Which is why we are not surprised that her son is showing the same inclinations. Not long after he was born Rosemary slipped under the rope and took Roscoe for a walk in the woods. My friend said she walked him out then brought him back. When they both came back to our barn, he figured that stall guards we meant to go under. Cue the wide mesh stall guard. Next he focused on going out the barn under the ropes.

To discourage his explorations, my mom used some step in posts and some hot wire across one door. We have vinyl board fencing so the hot wire keeps the horses honest. They all have a healthy respect for it. The cocky little boy walked right over to the door and pushed under the rope. If only mom had the camera when he hit the hot wire. Poor boy could not figure out why it did not work out like it always had before.



Can you see the trouble in that face?

 Can you believe that when he came in for dinner he actually went straight to his stall? Lesson learned for now. Smart ponies certainly keep you on your toes.