Pasture Turnout

So there's a really nice bit of pasture at the ranch that isn't being used by any of the horses. Riot has the upper pasture, Rico has the middle pasture, and Sunny has the lower pasture. 

Rico and Riot are big horses who eat a lot of grass, but Sunny is an air fern who seems to gain weight if you spritz him with too much water or if he SEES too much grass. So the lower lower pasture is way too rich for him and therefore he got his pasture cut in half and there's now just this beautiful pasture that no horse gets to enjoy due to how they're set up living-wise. 

TC is in the stall further than Riot's, so he doesn't have direct access to the lower lower pasture (and he shouldn't have access as he is used to eating hay, not grass), but I figured I could use it as a turnout after rides while I did barn chores and worked. 

Desperately needs a bath and a trim, but happy!

Now, TC has not been in a real pasture in a long time, but he's so chill there and also so desperate to eat grass that I figured he'd be fine. And I was right! He quietly walked around out there grazing for his hour. No antics, no testing the fence (it's just cable), nothing exciting. 

His facial expression was adorable though, and it just made me so happy that he loved it so much. I know it's just because of the food because he really didn't explore at all. But still, the option was there for him to wander about and I'm sure as the grass dies, he'll do that. 

Happy pony!

The next day, I asked my dad if it was okay to turn Riot out there too! Riot and Rico used to go out together but as Rico has gotten older, he has gotten more nervous about other horses and apparently Riot started to bother him too much. Riot is just friendly but Rico now prefers his friends to be on the other sides of fences. Sunny is an absolute brat to other horses (for really no reason, wtf) and can't be friends with anyone, so Riot is now on his own. 

Riot and TC hang out all the time since they live next to each other, they walk out together (and TC watches Riot go out in his pasture) and they walk in together. They play bitey-face together. You know, horse things. They're also just so sweet, I've never seen either of them pin their ears or kick at another horse. So I figured they'd like to be big dorks in the lower lower pasture together. 

TC has not been turned out with another horse since he was a baby. I feel so bad that one day in 2015 I took him away from his roommates and he never got to live with another horse again. That's just horses in the bay area. Good pastures with good footing and good fencing at good facilities are few and far between. So I was SO excited to give him a friend for his pasture turnout time. 

Not sure how big the pasture is but it's much bigger
than any paddock he's lived in

I came armed with a clicker and cookies to catch TC if anything went wrong. I put TC out first and he started grazing, then I went to get Riot. I had this big grin on my face as I brought Riot in because I thought TC was going to get so excited to have a friend and there'd be this big joyful reunion or lots of playing or something. 

Obviously nothing happened. 

Seriously, I put Riot in there and he was the one who was excited to see TC. TC just kept eating. Riot walked over and they sniffed noses and then Riot just walked away. 

He went to check on TC a few times but TC just couldn't get over the fact that he was in a green pasture eating green grass to give two fucks about the fact that he was turned out with another horse for the first time in almost six years. 

So cute together

Since then, I've either put them both out together or just TC out on his own for an hour or an hour and a half each day after riding. He just loves it. 

Hopefully we can continue doing the pasture turnout for the duration that we're at the ranch! It makes me happy to see him happy out there. And maybe at some point he'll hang out with Riot a bit more.