Well, as the vet discovered, Arthur's only serious problem is his feet. So Zoilo was kind enough to come by today to trim his hooves and check them out. Didn't think that would be any kind of problem. Art was so good when our vet, Anna, was examining his feet and legs. But they DID tell me he doesn't like men, didn't they? Although that doesn't seem to be the case with Mark or Mike, it apparently WAS true of Zoilo and his brother-in-law.
When they got here, Duke was out in the back pasture so I closed the gate to his paddock and brought Arthur over there to be trimmed. He threw an absolute mule FIT. He pulled away from me and started running up and down the fence line. Zoilo caught his lead rope and stopped him, then tried to lift a foot. No way. He kicked the crap out of everyone and everything! So Zoilo fastened him to one of those big gate posts. No better. I mean he was just TERRIBLE. Really dangerous! Good grief! He really IS a mule after all! Who knew!
So we put him back in his stall and let him calm down, while Zoilo trimmed Lizzie and then Duke. Then I put Duke in Lizzie's stall next to Arthur's so he would feel like he had company (he HATES to be alone) and I tied him to that heavy duty pipe that the feed buckets get hung on. Then Zoilo put another lead rope around his ankle, ran the rope across him and around his chest and used THAT to lift his leg so when he kicked, it would tighten around him. He still tried to kick anyway once in a while but poor Zoilo did - eventually - manage to get him trimmed. Whew! (I paid him four times as much for Arthur as for the horses -- he deserved at LEAST that much!)
No pictures of THAT - I was too busy hanging onto him and talking to him and trying to keep him calm.
Anyway, once everyone was trimmed and Zoilo had gone, we opened ALL the gates to all the paddocks and let him go out with Duke and Lizzie and I did tape that -- not very well, but I did tape it. I should have gone out into the pasture and THEN turned on the camera and let Mark open the gate, but no . . . I turned the camera on up at the barn, and THEN walked out into the pasture. So the video makes you dizzy because it's not stable. Oh well. Live and learn. I'm only now moving from photos to videos so it may take me a while to get good at it.
It took no time at all, though, for Duke and Lizzie to accept Arthur. And it was very funny to watch - though it's probably going to be boring to you. ;-D After the initial pseudo-clash when he first went out, instead of running at him, the two of them would sloooowly sneak toward Arthur and if he lifted his head, they would instantly put their heads down and eat grass like they didn't even know he was there. "La la la la la - nice day, huh Lizzie?" Then when he would go back to grazing, they would work their way still closer. It was hilarious to watch. Don't know who they think they're fooling. Obviously NO ONE was unaware of the others - but everyone pretended not to notice each other. Whatever works, I guess. And it did. Just looked out the window a few minutes ago, and Arthur was rolling around out there, so he obviously trusts that neither of them will attack him while he's down.
Not long after that while I was watching, I saw him walk around and explore the entire fence line - including the electric fence charger! (At least he didn't kick the thing off anyway!)
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| Held my breath while he nosed around the fence charger. I hoped he wasn't going to figure out a way to turn it off! |
Once he completed the entire back pasture fence line, he went back and checked out Lizzie's paddock as well (the only one he hadn't been in). That was apparently sufficient because then he just ambled back out to the pasture and went back to grazing.
So it's early afternoon now, it's a gorgeous day, and everyone seems to be quite comfortable together of there. The three of them are all out at the very back of the pasture where the grass is most lush at the moment. Nice. Now that I can stop holding my breath, I think I'll take a nap!
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