What's This Horse Doing?........ The Answer Revealed........

There were lots of guesses on What's This Horse Doing? A couple of them were actually correct. Shirley from Ride a Good Horse was close. Karen from Contact wondered if this horse is a stallion. Crystal from Ranch Riding was the first to hit it spot on. Darlene from Blog & Pony Show and Val from Fantastyk Voyage and sahara4d guessed it too.

Karen is correct about gender. This horse is indeed a stallion. For those who wondered which horse this might be, this is Rhet. Knowing the "who" might help some know what the "what" of the pictures since this horse is a particular kind of character. He's never boring to watch because he's always up to something and he can keep himself entertained by the simplest of things.

For those who guessed the horse was trying to scratch, there was no itching involved in this activity. The horse's behavior was motivated solely by his silly character. He created a game for himself and delighted in sharing it with me.

These pictures may look like the same ones as the first post. If you compare them you will see the horse is turning the opposite direction this time. The "turning" was a very important part of the activity. Rhet was definitely chasing his tail just like a dog and having great fun doing it.

I've seen him do this behavior in his stall. Then he stops to see if anyone is watching. If he has an audience he will continue, changing direction from time to time.

On this particular day, I had come out on the porch just to visit. Having recently gotten home from the hospital, seeing my horses from my front porch was the most I could expect to do. Rhet had been calling for someone to pay attention to him and I couldn't resist checking to see what he was up to.

As soon as I pulled the door open the horse went into motion chasing his tail to entertain me. I wondered if he would stop if I went to get the camera and he did. As soon as I turned he quit moving. Then he stood watching me to see what I would do next. As I went inside the horse, the horse cried out to me, unhappy to be loosing his audience.

As soon as I reappeared with the camera, Rhet nickered to me and then began chasing his tail again. Around and around he went until he started to stagger a bit both from the grade of the paddock and probably a little dizziness. He would stand up straight and tall, whinny a couple of times and then change direction chasing his tail again.

I laughed so hard my poor abdomen hurt and Rhet was delighted to get that kind of reaction. I was still very weak at that time and couldn't stand there for long. Rhet voiced his displeasure as I retreated into the house. Then he ran up to the gate and called and called for me to come back out and play........ a typical day in the life for Rhet.......


For an update on the accident, Dave is healing as is the horse, although Dave's recovery is happening much more quickly than that of the horse. It will be a while before we know if there is permanent injury to the animal. Dave's confidence is shaken and that might take a while to heal as well.

I will post details when I actually have the full story. Dave was so upset that things are coming in bits and pieces. At the start all I knew for sure was both Dave and one horse were injured. The path to learn what actually happened has been a bit winding and a little twisted, between assumptions I made looking at the injuries of both, to Dave finally beginning to remember what actually happened. When all the pieces come together, I will let you know.