Pine tree pasture

RectoryReserve continues to expand...if not in one direction then in another! When we moved here twelve or so years ago we tried to acquire a 3 acre strip of pasture bordering our drive. It had previously been attached to the premises but on one occasion of the property being sold, the field remained with the vendor rather than transferring with the remainder of the property to the buyer. Presumably a pricing matter. Our original offer was refused. We made subsequent attempts to no avail, most recently at auction when we were outbid at a ridiculous price. Santa popped up on his travels though and offered it to us out of the blue if we could complete by Christmas. The dust hardly settled under The Boss's feet and before you could say Hay 'n Oats, Ritz & Rocco find themselves grazing in a Totally New Place! Pine Tree Pasture we've called it. We put the electric fence up in a howling gale on Saturday and moved the pair up on Sunday.

Usually when horses moved to a new paddock they gallop around in great excitement, checking the boundaries and looking for aliens. These two are not normal. Ritz put his head down immediately and started eating: Rocco stood as if transfixed;  looking out into the horizon to left and right. All day as far as I know. Looking, looking and looking; for what? Blackbirds coming over the hills? (It's said that in ancient times blackbirds were the size of giraffes and horses were the size of rabbits; that's why horses always leap when a bird startles out of a hedge two fields away). Who knows? When I came past on my way back from walking the dogs later in the day Ritz & Rocco cantered purposefully across to the gate. "Take us home" they said. So I did. Very fast. They towed me home; one trying to trot fast than the other, with me in the middle. Same again on Monday. Great excitement coming home. Wanting to come home fast. We think Pine Tree Pasture is great. They think it's scary, new, unsettling, 'far from home' and insecure. Being flight animals, in a new place they are constantly on the lookout for danger - something to flee from. I put them in the familiar confines of The Rectory Field this morning. They galloped around as if relieved to welcome the familiar. "This is better; this is what we know; this is home!" they seemed to be saying. They kicked and bucked and rolled. Relaxed. They'll grow accustomed to Pine Tree Pasture in time; I'll know they're 'at home' there when they go for a good gallop round. Funny things, horses..... you can lead a horse to grass but you can't make him eat.......