Friends or something like it

Well. Just this past week for some reason the horses have been tearing down the paddock (tape) fencing overnight. It has been our practice to keep them separate because the couple of times that I have tried putting them together, Mac has tried to kill Paddy. Ok, ok, maybe kill is an exaggeration. But he runs backward and double-barrels with both feet. Quite dangerous to be the receiver of that kind of blow...ask me how I know! (Not Mac, when I was younger I got double-barreled in the stomach and it was NOT fun)

Not wanting Paddy to get hurt, we've kept them separate. One will be in a stall/paddock area while the other will be in the dry lot pasture area. The only thing separating them is an electric tape fence. A few times they were configured such that part of the fence would be down sometimes but they would still be separated. So we reconfigured them and the new pattern seemed to be working well. Until this week.

Every day this week we have come out to do morning chores to find the fence just demolished and the horses in the same space. Not necessarily hanging out like friends, but together. Ok, fine. So then we left them out together and closed up all the paddock gates. Nope, that didn't work. Apparently someone (likely named Mac) would like to be able to go in the stall if he wants so he figured out how to take down the gate and let himself in. Cheeky! So finally we left the paddock gate open so he could go in the stall and we left the horses out together. They got what they wanted.



Paddy and Mac now eat breakfast together in the mornings. We have to put out lots of piles of hay so that if Mac wants Paddy to move he's still got food to eat.



The good news is that now Mac lets us put his fly mask on.





Colin thinks that Mac has figured out that if he plays with the plastic tape-fence-holder-connector-things that he won't get shocked and this is how Colin thinks Mac is tampering with the fence.



We separate the horses in the afternoon and then put them together at night and that seems to be working out. Mac and Paddy have sorted it out - Mac is on top, Paddy is on bottom. Paddy is a good follower - he knows to stay out of Mac's way and to give Mac right of way. As long as Paddy is happy with his status quo, I don't anticipate any problems, as Mac doesn't ever seem to just go after Paddy for the heck of it.

So I guess they have sorted it out and they are friends . . . or something like it.