Nympho No More

This year has been hormone filled between Dottie and Roscoe. For a bit we let Sonny service Dottie and keep her happy. Unfortunately, like a typical male he would not leave her alone when she was on the downside of a season. So we cut off her stud service.

Dottie Dear

Well she was a total nympho after that. She teased Roscoe horribly. Plus since Roscoe did not see Sonny claiming her, he figured he had a chance. I seriously worried about our shared fence lines.
So we put up hot wire insulators that stick out 5 inches and ran the wire along the meeting area. Roscoe went from twanging the wire to jumping back when it was turned on. He has a healthy respect for hot wire. One problem solved.
Then we ran into an issue with the stall door that faces the paddock. Roscoe comes in for his dinner to keep Comrade from stealing. With his hormones raging and him growing, Roscoe is like a teenage boy when it comes to food. Starving!! One day after dinner, he actually busted through the door. Dottie was locked in to eat, so while he went over and preened to her, I went and locked Rosemary inside a stall. No repeat of the Cob run around, please. Then I shooed him off Dottie, waited while he chatted with Rosemary and then walked up to him to lead him back to the stall. Yep time for a more heavy duty door clasp.
Dottie meanwhile was crazy hormonal. Flirting, teasing and also being witchy to the grey boys. She was getting hard to live with. The real sign she was desperate was when Comrade let himself out of the stall to join the grey boys and girls. Dottie attached herself to Comrade and tried to convince him he knew what to do. Poor Comrade did not know how to handle Dottie rubbing up against him and nudging him.

So when we went to the Dover Tent Sale, we looked at supplements. In the natural, herbal selection area they had products for mares. As we looked and read I said "Where the heck is the Nympho No More?" Of course none came out said they helped like that, but you could read between the lines. We decided to try Mare Magic, a raspberry leaf based product, costing $15 dollars for the small size (60 days). It has only been about 10 days and we have given her the load dose, but she seems calmer. The real test will be when she comes into season again next month. I really hope it works because Dottie has lost muscle and weight since she has been dealing with all these hormones. Though I told Mom she should have awesome butt muscles from all the squatting she does.

Just enough bling for the big girl

Dottie also got a new brow band with a widow's peak and rhinestone heart on it from Peggy. The big girl had a spring in her step wearing her new tack. A friend said the right clothes make a girl feel sexy. All of us responded that Dottie needed no help in that department.

Holy HORMONES

This year has brought Roscoe's hormones out in full force. He was telling us it was spring before the girls did. Roscoe knows what it is all about and it making sure we know it too. Well the hormones are causing problems too. We finally were able to take of blankets and found that all the great weight Roscoe had put on over the winter, was gone. He is so busy keeping track of the girls and sniffing girl poop, he is not eating as much. Plus he going through another growth spurt which always makes him look skinny. So frustrating since the show is in another month.
To help with his weight, we added more rice bran to his meal and he gets to go out with out a muzzle every other day. Turn out might change, but we have to see how brave we are feeling. It is a scary prospect putting horses on fresh spring grass after dealing with Laminitis.

Can you guess where the mares are?

In addition to the weight issue, the hormones have made him *cough* BALLSY. Yep I said it. His breeder commented recently that he has a big set. He seems to think he has to share that fact in his actions. Those mares are his. So poor Winston is bearing the brunt of his actions since he alternates turn out buddies. I came in Saturday to find out Roscoe had ripped Winston's sheet in two places. Now previously Roscoe would not even try to engage Winston. All Winston had to do was swing his butt or pin his ears and Roscoe would give him space.

"My Girls are inside, so time to come in"

This new development made me think. I don't want to separate either of the boys. No horse should be alone if at all possible. But I can't have him taking out his frustrations on Winston. I told Mom and Peggy I would buy a cribbing muzzle for him if he keeps it up. It will allow him to eat hay, but not bite Winston. The other thing I did was hold on to Winston and move Roscoe off the fence line. Basically the was the head mare saying he is mine, so bug off. Winston went off to have a rare time grazing while Roscoe would trot up to the fence and bite the top board. He has a healthy respect for the hot wire since he has encounter it while posturing.
On a positive note, we did find kick marks on him Monday. Which means Winston got some hits in. That day when they went out, Mom saw Winston pin his ears and Roscoe went WIDE around him to go eat hay. Maybe they worked it out. We gave Winston the night off from wearing his muzzle just so he had teeth to help ward off the rotten pony. The funny thing is that Winston would rather go out with the boys than the girls. He gives those hormonal females plenty of room and I swear he sighs when we come to bring him in.
Here we are trying to protect Winston's health and we inadvertently put him in the cross hairs of the future herd boss. Oh, the joys of herd dynamics. This should be an interesting year.