I just love caring for horses. Most folks probably don’t know that each one has their own personality just like the cats and dogs we call our pets. It’s the individuality of each horse that I care for that makes me smile every day.
I feed my horses in the indestructible flexible rubber tubs. These tubs are the greatest things since sliced bread, horses can step and invert them, tractors can run over them and they are still in perfect shape when it comes time to feed a meal. That is if you can find them!
This morning I went out to feed breakfast and made my way from tub to tub scooping out grain but this morning I was short one. I looked in all the usual hiding places but alas, my tub had vanished. I felt bad for the last horse in the group, he ended up eating his grain off the snow.
I went about the rest of my chores feeding all the alpacas, tossing out hay and had totally forgotten about the missing tub. That was until it came time to water everyone. The horses have a 100 gallon stock tank for their water supply and it needs refilling once or twice a day depending on how much hay the fatties eat. I came out with the hose to fill up the tank and to my surprise there was the missing tub.
My absent tub was floating perfectly on the surface of the water in the tank and looked like a little boat. The only conclusion I could come up with is that the 3 year old Filly Fay, had placed it so gently and perfectly in there after getting thirsty.
Fay really likes the feed tubs and they seem to act as a pacifier. She likes to pick one up and happily walks around with it in her mouth. It seemed that last night she had wandered around with her tub, got thirsty and placed the tub on the water to take a drink. I sure got a good laugh finding the rubber tub boat floating in there.
Extracting the tub, I shook off the water and tossed it back out with the others in the paddock. Of course Fay immediately had to investigate and picked up her trusty tub and wandered off with it. I wonder where I’ll find it tomorrow.