Maya and Kyra have settled in with the herd and I can spend so much time watching the dynamics. It's just fascinating to me. Watching Kyra get more comfortable with the big horses has been a joy. She initiated play with Morado which he thought would be fun and reciprocated.  Then she got frightened and had to run to the other side of Maya!

Over the past few days I've seen some of the horses want to groom her on her back and she's not so comfortable with that yet. To my surprise she turned around and pinned her ears at Morado as to say, "keep your distance" and he moved away.  Ringo can't keep his nose off of her and she allows him to sniff her. While I was watching this he proceeded to grab a few hairs of her tail and play with it. She stood there and allowed it until he got bored with her. Who knows what they do when I'm not there though. They probably run around and play and have a party. I need a pony cam to see who pulls the blankets off the rack, rearranges the brush boxes and halters that are in the arena. 

One of the most interesting parts of the dynamics is what Adelantado is doing. He drives Maya and Kyra around alot. Not chasing, not even very fast, just slow, consistent pressure.  He moves them into the arena, out of the arena, around the manure pile, through the gate, to the round bale, back through the gate, back to the arena and on and on. Then he was cutting Kyra away from Maya and Kyra kept going back to the other side of her mommy.  He was trying to get in between the two of them but she's so little and just scoots around behind Maya. He must not have been too serious about it because he eventually just stood there and guarded them.  Maya  looks annoyed by the whole thing. I figure there is a lesson in it for Kyra or Adelantado wouldn't be doing it. He's a socially very well adjusted herd member so I'll let him do what he's supposed to do. I trust he knows what he's doing. He's fair. And who am I to judge what's fair in the horse kingdom? It's only my perspective through human eyes and emotions.

The horse family that l am so fortunate to study is one of the best parts of my day. It makes me better with horses. When I can come even close to matching the clarity of their communication skills I have a chance to be better in all my relationships with humans, too.  As I've said so many times, "I want to be more like my horse". 

Photo credit: MaryAnne Machis

Kyra and Maya's first day out with the big herd.

For those of you who have not met Maya and Kyra let me briefly introduce them. Maya is a 12 year old Spanish mustang mare of Sorraia bloodlines who is of exceptional character and spirit. On November 14th she gave birth to a beautiful filly who, in her own right, is exquisite on so many levels. Kyra was born in broad daylight, during the warmest and sunniest week on record in Vermont. Her shimmering blue eyes, which are more turquoise in color than any blue eyed horse I've ever seen, are mesmerizing. Kyra, (or Ki-Ra) who's name translates in many different languages to "universal light force", or "first light" has brought a ray of sunshine to many people in her short time here on Earth.  Her sire is Little Creek, our Choctaw Indian pony who has since been gelded. 

 After two months of Maya and Kyra being in a pen in the indoor arena at night, the 10 horses in the big herd have finally lost most of their curiosity of Kyra. I know they stand right next to her pen at night and "protect" her. I let momma and baby out with all the others yesterday and Maya made a straight line to the hay and started eating. Kyra obediently followed. They had a round bale to themselves while all the others stood at a distance with ears and eyes on the new pair. No one initiated the move to go investigate. I could tell clearly they were surprised to see them integrated. I knew the herd dynamics were going to be interesting so I watched closely.  Finally, Estrellita, a 5 year old filly who has been obsessed with Kyra from day one went to visit. Then Augustine, then Turtle. One by one they went over and Maya gave them a look only a mother could, and everyone kept their noses to themselves and just stood and watched. After a few minutes they were accepted to share the bale and before I knew it most of them were happily dining together. All Maya had to do was lift her head and pin her ears and everyone stayed in line. She's got power!

Later on in the day I saw Kyra laying in the middle of the big pile of round bale hay, surrounded by the rest of the herd. Maya,  now realizing that she has a lot of babysitters, took advantage of it by resting. A few hours later I saw that Adelantado had taken Maya and Kyra as his responsibility. Although Morado really is the lead horse out there, he and Adelantado share a lot of the alpha responsibilities. I saw Morado standing guard 20-30 feet away while Kyra napped, but it is Adelantado that follows her and Maya around. The truth to his responsibilities for them came later when I brought him inside the arena and Kyra followed him. This was the farthest away from Maya I have ever seen her. Maya only looked back over her shoulder to see where she was going but was not at all concerned. Kyra didn't feel safe enough to go into the arena with Adelantado, and chose to high tail it back to mommy instead. Adelantado was all upset now that he couldn't be with them.  After I was done with playing with him I let him loose and he ran back to them shared hay.  He stood between them and the other horses and gave all the appropriate nasty looks when anyone got too close. 

What was real cute was when one of the horses got to sniffing Kyra's rump, she turned around and pinned her ears at him and gave him a little baby buck! She's so tough! Kyra has picked up on all of Maya's little idiosyncrasies like banging the panel doors at grain time, fiddling with the snap on the gate, pinning her ears at the big horses, etc. She also has picked up on all of Maya's endearing qualities like friendliness and softness and trust. I've not haltered her yet but have put a thin rope around her face, chest, and rump and have had her yield her body parts from pressure. She lets me handle her legs and feet, mouth and ears and I can rub her anywhere I want to. I'm not a fan of imprinting foals at birth. Just love them and set boundaries like their moms do and they turn out fine...probably better. 

The other day in one of Kyra's more exuberant young filly moments, she came trotting up to me, turned her hind end and kicked out. Surprised, I stepped out the way quickly to avoid a blow to the leg. Then she came up behind me and I could tell she was thinking about jumping on my back (I've seen her do that to Maya) so I squealed like a mare and kicked out behind me. Not only did she go prancing away, but Maya turned around quickly to look at me like, "Where did you come from?" She was as surprised as Kyra! Kyra approached me again, a little more cautiously but with the same intent and this time I backed up and kicked out again, grazing her chest. The third time she stood about a horse length away and just watched me :)  Effectiveness is key! It was a great moment and one that caused no confusion about boundaries at that moment.

I'll tell you in another blog entry about Little Creek's episode last week finding his way to Maya's pen and his interaction with the herd. He thinks very highly of himself! There's always plenty of stories from the Center.