A Pearl Puzzle Piece
/I try to start my evening chores an hour and a half before dark. Right now my evening chores involve bringing in four ponies (two sets of two), putting out two ponies, and cold hosing my stallion’s wound. When the four ponies who’ve been out all day are in close at day’s end, then I get done earlier. But during this hot weather we’re experiencing (perhaps normal but hot for us previously-mountain-living folks!), they’ve been laying low midday then go out to actively graze as it cools, so they’re rarely handy for me to bring in.
Gorgeous sunsets are one of the benefits of playing the catch-me game with my puzzle Pearl, barely visible in the midground.
One of the pairs I bring in are my two three year old Fell Pony mares Drybarrows Calista and PrairieJewel Pearl. When Calista sees me, she comes to me to be haltered and taken in. Calista is the dominant of the two, so in normal herd dynamics, Pearl would follow us in even without being haltered. That’s obviously my preference, too, to save me walking all the way back out from the barn to get her. Pearl, though, has shown she is not herd bound and rarely follows Calista in. Haltering her at the same time as Calista doesn’t work very well either because Pearl moves away from the dominant mare as I approach with her.
Pearl has been a puzzle since she joined my herd (click here to read more). And her behavior in the evening has only increased my puzzlement. Not only will she not follow Calista in, but she has preferred to play the catch-me game instead of coming to me to be haltered. She will move off when I approach, sometimes at a walk, often faster, sometimes towards the barn and sometimes farther away. One evening when I had to walk a half mile to halter her, reaching her as dusk was headed to dark, I decided a new strategy was in order.
The next night when I approached she and Calista, I gave Calista a treat when she approached, as I normally do to thank her for her cooperation. But I didn’t halter Calista. I knew that Calista would follow Pearl and I in; I just needed Pearl’s willingness to be caught. I then approached Pearl with my hand outstretched and shoulders down and eyes cast down, all the while shooing Calista away. Pearl let me walk up to her and halter her, and I gave her a treat, the first she’d had from me. I also gave her several kind words and scratches in her favorite places as I usually do. The treat, though, caught her attention. We went to the barn with Calista following, and we ended the day on a good note.
The next night and then the next, I was able to approach Pearl, halter her and bring her in rather than have her run off, with me trudging through falling light after her. She’s also been asking about getting a treat at other times. So far I haven’t given her one; I want her to clearly understand the circumstances in which she gets that reward. And I want to clearly understand what it is about our new routine that is motivating her better behavior. I feel like I have a new piece of the puzzle that is Pearl, and there are a lot more to be discovered. I look forward to finding the next one!
© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020
More stories like this one about life with Fell Ponies can be found in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.
