Dawn Gets Motherly, Scout and Joe Pair Up, and Safety Circles

Dawn is being very maternal with Maisie; lots of low nickers and calls. This evening when Dawn came in from pasture - Maisie was already in - she did the whole panoply of motherly calls to "her" foal (a mighty big one at that!). It's pretty cute, but I hope they don't get so attached that each one is hard to work with separately - at this point Dawn seems more attached to Maisie than Maisie to Dawn.

* * * * * *

I always find it interesting that horses who have the same owner often pair up in the pasture, perhaps because they've been together for a while, sometimes at different barns. Scout (young buckskin) and Joe (old bay) often do this, and it's fun to catch them (very) close together:

I think Joe's savvy enough to use Scout for extra fly protection and even perhaps for a bit of shade!

* * * * * *

Another little tidbit from the book Is Your Horse a Rock Star? (reviewed in an earlier post). It's the concept of safety circles. Here's a quote from the book:

A safety circle is simply a circle that you ride in the same place every time until it is the place where they feel comfortable and safe. From there, venture out slowly into a larger world, knowing that any time they become worried you have somewhere to go back to where they feel secure.

The author says that a safety circle can be particularly useful with a horse that is dominant, energetic and afraid, whether aloof (a Boss, in the book's terms) or a friendly (a Wild Card) - this would be Dawn or our mare Lily. I've used this myself with a variety of horses, just without calling it this - I like the concise description of a safety circle. It's a nice way to look at helping the horse out as you work.