The Showdown at the Not OK Corral

Over the summer, I spent two weeks take home pay on a used pipe round pen. Then, I spent about half that again to buy these rather ingenious Panel Caps to fill the joints and make it safe for Knucklehead who must always rear up and ride his mother around piggyback like a fool. I did all this so that Copy and Ace could have the benefit of grazing in the lush hayfield now that they have trampled down both of their run-ins. This gesture of kindness was pretty much wasted on the unappreciative horses. Well, at least on Copy.




Mom and I led Copy and Ace out to the hayfield. Acey was quite well behaved considering this was the longest walk away from the barn he's ever taken, and it was unknown territory. He sort of led me, but there was no biting, bolting, rearing or carrying on. He was as good as you can expect a young fella to be. Copy, on the other hand, shuffled through her deck of possible personalities and chose "Displeased Herd-Bound Crazymare". This was not helped by William P. who was so jealous seeing his two women walk off out of sight with other horses that he spent the entire time at his window calling for us all to come back.


Copy refused to settle in and graze. She ran the fence because she was suddenly way too far away from the barn, and her barnmates (who mostly don't like her anyway because of her persnickety attitude).




Ace, besides being influenced by Crazymare, was overjoyed at his new playpen with the wide open sky and wonderful view. He would have been running laps anyway.


I finally went in and caught Copy hoping that having her on a rope would settle her in and allow Ace to calm down. She did take a few bites, but told me that in her opinion, the grass here smelled funny. Ace, despite being excited about his new found freedom, and covered in flies since his mother's antics had stirred up and attracted every facefly for a mile, did do some grazing and explored his new "corral" and seemed to say it was OK by him.


After awhile Copy got impatient with me, and the funny smelling grass, and decided to get pushy, stomp around and paw. She did her best to express her opinion that this "corral" was beneath her dignity, not properly placed, and rather a waste of her valuable time. At this point, I was pretty fed up with Ms. Picky Pants. When I snapped her across the back with the lead rope to straighten her out, she threw her head way up and looked down her nose at me in her signature look of scandalised innocence which I find to be the single most entertaining expression I've ever seen on a horse. Even when I'm really really annoyed with her, which I really really was.

At least Ace enjoyed his romp.