Deja is what you might call, in layman’s terms, a silly goose. When she is in her space with her friend-sister-mother Cleopatra, aka, comfortable, she is a mellow sight — a mare who can nap for hours in the sunshine and who enjoys mutual grooming. But once removed from this bubble, she is on alert. Her eyes grow large, her ears prick forward, she looks for things to worry over. It is possible to support her in these times, yes, and it grows a bit easier with each outing, but she takes a lot of reassuring to get ‘with you,’ and even then can be easily persuaded back into a state of high alarm.
Last week, in preparation for our new arrivals, we had to do some paddock re-configuring, a game of musical chairs we play every so often, with the only difference being no one is left unhoused once the music stops. This meant moving Cleo and Deja to another paddock, one that just so happened to be on the other side of the property. Now, these mares had spent time around the barn, coming into the arenas to be worked and such, but at the end of it all they always returned to ‘paddock 3.’ Deja, in her new space, ‘paddock 20,’ made it very clear to us that she was a west side girl at heart, and demanded loudly and constantly that she be returned to her original lodgings. Even an alfalfa snack and a sweet water would not placate her for long — she stood stubbornly at the bottom corner of the fenceline and called, not for her friend who was standing nearby (also contributing her voice to the protest), but to the paddock she had come to know and love, apparently. Like we said earlier, silly goose. Once the mares returned to the side of the property they had come to know, they immediately relaxed. Sometimes you have to pick your battles, and this space-boundness was one for another day.
Despite her silly quirks, Deja is a cool horse, and it is extremely gratifying to watch her grow a little more comfortable in her own skin with each working session: the way she drops her head down low to explore the space closer to the ground, the way her walk lengthens. The flapping of a flag no longer bothers her as it once did, and her skin no longer clenches and coils at its touch — at least, not to the same degree. Once nicknamed ‘dozer’ for her propensity to bowl you over in her pursuit of being where she wanted, she will now lead with feel. This is a special, unique girl, that’s for sure!
