Ella's Paddock Move

Moving Ella to the other paddock took a little bit of preparation. We blocked a few area's off, moved a water tub into the paddock and a tire for hay. Hung her 2 hay nets, 1 in the shelter the other off the fence post. We moved the tub containing a salt lick and mineral lick and then hung her oats 'feeder' bucket off the fence. Once all of that was done and the tire was filled with Hay and Jesse had taken Eli into the Arena I put her halter on and brought her to the paddock.

At first she was a bit skiddish and jumpy. Once I un-clipped the lead line from the halter she went around doing a thorough inspection. At one point she was cantering around a bit and when the pasture herd came over to check things out she lifted her head high, put her tail straight up, flared her nostrils and snorted as she trotted towards them. This sent the two geldings into a gallop as they pushed the rest of the herd (3 other mares) back into pasture around the other side of the barn. I didn't see them the rest of the evening and Ella continued to investigate her new surroundings. I walked around with her for a bit, then sat on the fence while she ate some hay.

After some time I went away, into the barn, back to the car, over to see Eli (who was now in Ella's old paddock) etc. I would come back periodically and check on her ~ she'd found some grass in random spots she was nibbling on. Then I fed her and Eli their mash and stuck around for just a little bit longer. The barn owner is going to keep an eye on her as well as the barn hand who lives on the property. We'll head back out tomorrow. In the wild there are always, threats and changes, part of horses being here 'still' after 100's of years is their ability to adapt to changing environments. Soon we'll move Eli in to the exterior part of the paddock so they can, once again, be 'NEIGH'bor's'