Dings and Dents, and Wonderful Rain

One good thing about group turnout for horses is they get to interact with other horses.  One bad thing about group turnout for horses is they get to interact with other horses . . .

After I left Pie and Drift peacefully grazing together yesterday morning, they must have had a bit of an altercation.  Pie has a superficial scrape on his chest that could be due to a nip or a glancing kick.  He also has a big bite mark on his loin.  Drift came in with two matching scrapes and some minor swelling on each side of his chest - it looks like he may have bitten Pie and Pie then double-barrelled him.  They have to work out their relationship and I think it'll be fine - Pie was probably so focussed on grazing that he missed a signal from Drift to move out of his space.  Just dings and dents - the times when new horses join a group or a horse rejoins the herd after a long absence are when these mostly occur.  Some Novalsan and SWAT should do the trick.

Despite the risks of group turnout and although some horses do fine when only turned out solo,  I strongly believe that it's very important to equine mental health for horses to have the chance to physically interact with other horses, including the interactions that are part of establishing pecking order in the herd.  Horses are made to move - 24/7 if possible or the closest approximation that can be achieved - and they're made to live in herds while eating forage continuously.  Dings and dents come with the territory.  This morning, Pie was careful to move away whenever Drifter approached - with luck they'll be no more wounds to treat.

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Overnight some thunderstorms with heavy rain moved in, and it's supposed to rain heavily for most of the morning.  Usually, I'm not a big fan of rain - we have no indoor so it keeps me from riding - but this time I'm delighted.  It's been several months since we've had any significant rain, which is very bad for our part of the country especially with the very high temperatures we've been having.  We're supposed to have hot temperatures through the weekend - heat indices in the upper 90s, but it looks like Monday it'll be a bit cooler (maybe a ride?!) and the drought has broken.  It's raining, it's pouring . . .