My horse Bear (aka Shakespeare) is a classic ham who endears himself to all who meet him and enjoys being the centre of attention. Herewith the first of a series of mini galleries to run intermittently in this blog, featuring the antics of my very own “comic” Shakespeare. Enjoy!

Right: Recently I took my new Nikon D7000 out for a spin at the farm. Bear and his buddy, Sam, were in the paddock minding their own business when I strolled into view. As if on cue they stopped chomping on hay and most obligingly embarked in a game of halter tag for my benefit.

In this image both have their eye on me as if to ask, “Hey, are you getting this?” As you can see, it was almost a miss …

Left: Bear has a treat habit, thus he always expects there to be something in his bucket, especially when I’m around. On this particular day last summer his bucket was empty and he had an opinion about it he felt inclined to share with me.

In the warmer months he spends a lot of the day outside, so I will amuse him with apple bobbing at the water trough (one apple cut into segments — he’s bobbing, not me … I just facilitate) and then put a healthy serving of carrots and a stud muffin into his bucket for him to discover when he comes in. I cover his treats with hay to keep the flies out, and he gets to dig for his treat treasure. He’s so easily amused …

On this occasion Bear was extremely disappointed to discover his bucket empty. So, (and I watched him do it) he grabbed a large helping of hay from the generous pile in his stall as if to show me what was missing and then dumped it into the aisle beneath the door through which his grain and other tender morsels are delivered to his bucket.

Almost instantly a bemused look crossed his face, as if he’d realized that he’d just thrown the baby out with the bath water. This image depicts his effort to retrieve the discarded hay. In the end I had to help him, silly horse …

Right: Summer at the farm is a lovely time, however flies pose a particularly annoying menace. Deer flies, horse flies, bots, mosquitoes (you name it) are a nasty warm weather nuisance and are particularly hard on our pampered equine friends.

However, there are only so many things that can be done to protect the darlings from flying predators. I have adopted two — a liberal spraying all over Bear’s body with a naturally formulated fly repellant every time he goes outside, and a fly mask to keep the little blighters out of his eyes.

In this image Bear (the brat) models his brand new fly mask which sports the latest in synthetic mesh visors and black fake fleece trim. Not spoiled at all, is he?

Did I mention he’s a ham?

Stay tuned for more from the Ham Horse Gallery in future posts of “Musings of a Horse Mom.”

Nurture what you love ….

Dorothy
“Horse Mom”