Oi! That's my foot!

[Debbie]

This morning we've storms out of the south, which means warmer temps...and a lot of wind and rain. So I gave Blossom her bucket in the field shelter, and whisked off her blankie.

Then the wind cracked against the field shelter. Okay, so it makes a noise, it makes a lot of noises, and Blossom rarely notices. Well this morning she did, and she jumped up....and landed on me foot and the rug She had to do another jump as I cleared her off me. Then she attempted to jump on me again...I say attempted because this time I was having none of it. She got shooed off, from me, her bucket and the field shelter.

LOL, she thinks I was being a positively horrid mummy, but we went through reestablishing where my boundaries are....and especially the fact she should be watching them. Every time I thought she'd repented, she pulled a snarky look (Heather you'll know this one all too well!). So out she went again, until she was duly licking and chewing and finally paying some attention.

I finished up the rest of the feeding and came back to do some grooming on her. Much better! She loved the grooming session, settled down to munch some hay, and above all, she minded exactly where her feet were in relation to mine.

They sure do try it, don't they?

[leannwithconnie]

oHHHH I bet that hurt Debbie. Is your foot swollen?

[dollylanedales]

Sometimes these ponies stand on our foot, quite blissfully unaware of the pain we are in. Hope you foot is not too badly bruised.

[Debbie]

LOL, the older I get the more I realize they know exactly where their feet are in relation to ours. I used to think they'd tread on you without knowing....being oblivious to our pain. Ha! Now I realize this is how they establish pecking orders in the herd and I make sure Blossom minds herself.

To be totally fair, this is only the second time she's ever stepped on me...so it was a bit of a surprise to see her leap up like that and land on me. I don't doubt she was startled, but why on earth didn't she jump in the direction of the very wide open rest of the field shelter?? Maybe she thought mum would save her, but I wasn't that keen to be saving her when she'd landed on top of me! LOL

I'm grateful she still doesn't weigh that much (725 lbs), and the fact that I have extremely small feet and toes. As luck would have it, she landed on my toes, but not badly. They've pretty much stop hurting and the arnica rub has helped.

;D I hope she's given up all thoughts of me taking a 'supporting' role to her airs above ground!!!

[PonyGirl]

O ouch. I have been really lucky as Daisy has not done that. However, Sassy has stepped and turned on me. OUCHER!

You have my sympathy.

[loopylou]

OOOUUUCCCHHHH, i hope your foot is ok today Debbie, i bet that hurt.

She must of thought that Mum would fight off all those nasty scarey monsters, LOL.

[DalesLady]

ouch! Hope you are OK Debbie

[baroquefarm]

Yes, that tends to happy, particularly with youngsters. It will get better as they learn and pay attention to their moving parts!

[Debbie]

Stood on, and then turned?? That's making my eyes water just thinking about it!

My toes are just peachy this morning. Can't hardly feel where they'd been landed on yesterday....and Blossom was minding where she was in relation to me this morning. What a good girl!!

[NFK Dumpling]

Mar 31, 2008 15:21:17 GMT -1 Debbie said:

LOL, the older I get the more I realize they know exactly where their feet are in relation to ours. I used to think they'd tread on you without knowing....being oblivious to our pain. Ha! Now I realize this is how they establish pecking orders in the herd and I make sure Blossom minds herself.

Didn't know that it was a pecking order thing but the only time James has stood on my foot was when it was hidden under straw in the trailer; he stood on the side as I ducked under the front bar.

However he has trodden on two of my friends when they tried to stop him from eating clearly as his next meal didn't depend on them they come further down the order

Poor Donna's foot is still not right and I think that was trodden on in 2002!

[Debbie]

Yep, it seems to be 'I step on your feet' is a popular game. I watched it in progress when we had Lady Bear the foxtrotter. I noticed her feet were bruised, especially the fronts. When I asked the gal who'd sold her, she told me to watch the girls....and sure enough they were both stepping on each other's feet. Its some way to gain dominance, or sort out who's more in charge. I think more than anything its a way of testing to see what the reaction would be. Kinda like when you're a kid, and you hit another kid or adult to see what they do. If they do nothing, you up the ante to see how much you can get away with.

I will say it was brilliant for me when I was younger because it taught me to read the horse's body language. They broadcast a mile off as they shift their weight about to plant their feet, but my word some of them can be sneaky! I got very good at watching out for my feet, but as I got older, I started to realize this was intentional, so I'm right there with my answer, and its usually a firm...no thank you, get out of my space now.

Obviously its not all the time intentional, I mean horses and ponies have accidents and can misstep as much as the next person. But watch the interaction next time. You'll find newbies, or those lower down in the pecking order tend to get stepped on more. And heaven help you if the horse can sense you're afraid I have one ex boyfriend.... I don't think he ever got over his fear of horses...poor thing. ;D