Wednesday 23 February 2011

Pleased to meet you?

Oscar and Dilly are unusual as they arrived at Rockley together.  Most horses come on their own and have to make friends quickly but Oscar and Dilly were already sorted as far as a support network went and so, predictably, were bonded at the hip :-)
Initially, I introduced them to Ginger and then Felix, the 2 most laid back members of the Rockley mafia, who tend to inspire confidence in other horses too.  However, Oscar and Dilly had no time for them - they had each other...(!)

Since those first encounters, they've met other members of the gang, but generally the conversations have mostly gone something like the first ones:

Ginger: "Hi, I'm Ginger"

Oscar: "Keep away from Dilly - she's mine"

Dilly: "Keep away from Oscar - he's mine"

Ginger: (shrugs, and goes off to eat haylage)

Kingsley: "Hi, I'm Kingsley"

Oscar: "Keep away from Dilly - she's mine"

Dilly: "Keep away from Oscar - he's mine"

Kingsley: (shrugs, and goes off to eat haylage)

Jacko was potentially interesting...but Charlie and Angel fared no better:

"Hi, I'm Charlie - I'm very friendly; he's called Angel - he's a bit of a plonker but he's ok really."

Oscar: "Keep away from Dilly - she's mine"

Dilly: "Keep away from Oscar - he's mine"

Charlie and Angel: (shrugging, go off to eat haylage)

There's no angst or upset about it, its just that the 2 newbies don't trust anyone else yet, because they don't need to; thats OK, they will get there, and in the meantime they keep themselves to themselves and like to find a spot where they can watch what's happening, including all the other horses!

The one exception was when I introduced Patsy...

Patsy: "Hi, I'm Patsy"

Oscar: "Hi Patsy, its really nice to meet you.  I'm Oscar.  Would you like to hang out with us for a while?  I could groom you if you like..."

Dilly: (turning her back) "I don't know what you see in her..."


2 comments:

smazourek said...

My two are like that, they've been together since my mare was born 7 years ago. I put them on pasture board with another established herd of two and it took them months to integrate. They still prefer each others company though.

jenj said...

Hahaha! I love Patsy and Oscar. Hilarious!