Ah yes, the “leftovers” or “table scraps.” 
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Ugh - we had a mare in one of our pastures that did this. Kept everyone up by the gate, despite the ACRES of shade and grass. She was running from bugs, I think. We ended up having to move her to the other paddock and then everyone started going up the hill to eat! The other paddock has some old crotchety grandpa geldings who are perfectly happy to make the girl stand by herself at the gate 
Ernie’s face is adorable, and their standards for alfalfa. Princess behavior all around!
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Peach also has a strong distaste for bugs, and unfortunately he perpetuates the stereotype that TBs are not the most sensible or sturdy creatures (nobody come for me, I love TBs and every other one I’ve owned was very sensible). He’s not the type that can be left to his own devices and trusted to make good choices all the time.
He pulled a shoe just before things got muddy, so I yanked the other and was waiting for the world to dry out a bit before re-gluing. He’s been fine barefoot since, but has now apparently run himself into a bit of foot soreness which probably explains (at least partially) why he’s standing in the one spot all day.
I guess I will move them back to the paddocks for now so I can deal with the shoe situation this weekend. 
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Any way you could drive all over the pasture to put piles of alfalfa all over the place? Make them move at least a little bit!
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Silly Peach.
What would happen if you put Bert and Ernie out on the pasture and just brought Peach in?
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This is what I just did, actually - Peach is in the barn right now with a hay net, and he’s fine temporarily (blessed OTTB life skills at work) but I think he would be pretty upset to be left completely alone long term. My other three horses are out on the other pasture (and two of them are mean to him), so there’s nobody in the paddocks to keep him company.
I would have brought Ernie and Bert up to the paddocks for a break too, except Bert didn’t want to move through the gate. It’s not Bert’s fault, but whoever taught him to lead did a really crappy job and now he’s a big strapping boy who can plant his feet and say no - and if you pressure him at all, he gets light in the front end.
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Went back out to see if the youngsters wanted to come up, since they’ve been doing nothing but loitering in the dirt patch since Peach left.
Ernie meant business and marched right up to me, went through the gate like a pro and other than a little jiggy moment he was practically a professional.
Of course… that left Bert alone. So alone! He didn’t vocalize much but he did spend about 5 minutes galloping laps while I did a few other things and waited for him to blow off the steam. By the time I made it back down to him he had slowed down to just trotting the fence, so a few more rounds of that and then he was back in the dirt patch and ready to think again.
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Getting from the dirt patch to the gate was very stop-start-stop, but once there, the power of being alone was on my side and he only hesitated for a moment. The walk was uneventful. The trio are back in the paddocks for now, at least until I can get Peach’s feet dealt with.
Sometimes I wonder why I even have all this grass, when it seems the horses rarely eat it
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I’ll send my girl to you. She knows exactly what to do with grass!
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Oh Bert. He of very little brain. But hey, it’s obvious that he still has that awesome trot! So there’s that! 
It sounds like he’s extremely wary of going through the gate. As if he’s overly concerned about squeezing through a narrow opening. Is that correct? If so, I wonder if he’s just generally a little claustrophobic and it’s a learning process or if he’s actually gotten caught or hurt being forced through too tight of an opening before.
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I don’t think it’s claustrophobia, I think it’s the electric fence We just need to work on learning (and trusting) that when the human says it’s ok to cross where there is normally a line, you won’t get shocked. The paddock fences are super-duper hot and it leaves a lasting impression pretty quick. I always turn the fence off before I pull horses out, so nobody is in danger of getting zapped and I don’t have to listen to the infernal ticking.
The trio all look pretty pleased to be back in the paddocks this morning… and the other trio were standing expectantly at the pasture gate looking at me like ‘they got brought in, can’t we go too?’. 
Ingrates, all of them.
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Aha! Guess I didn’t realize he’d been zapped. My mare is also the type that if she got zapped once, she’d be extremely wary until convinced otherwise.
Bert is looking very handsome in that photo!
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Bert does look handsome in that photo.
Although something about his expression looks as if he has more opinions than well-considered thoughts. 
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Awkward stage, uneven growth sprouts and all…I see quite a promising throatlatch as he drops his head and stretches out and down there. That holds much promise.
Also something about his topline and his good, square stance without even knowing how to pose in the standing still shot have me going hmmmmm we may have something here in a really good way. Losing the bellied up look is good to see.
The gate thing just proves his breeding is as claimed, lots of dumb….,er….warmblood influence coming through there. 
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Awww don’t listen to them, Bert! You’re plenty smart! Just very interested in self preservation 
It really seems that Bert and Ernie must have come from two different backgrounds - Ernie is such a gem and Bert hasn’t learned that most humans have good ideas.
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Both boys learned rather quickly to stay away from the fence I doubt they had ever been in electric fencing before, and a good zap or two the first time leaves a lasting, respectful impression. I’m still working with the “temporary” fences I put up when we moved in, so everything is electric except the perimeter fence. Proper permanent fencing IS on the agenda but as all farm owners know, everything takes time and money and you rarely have both at once.
All the opinions. I do think he is smart, in that too-smart-for-your-own-good sort of way, and his mind is not quickly changed. He wants to do good, but he’s got very little trust.
@findeight he has a huge presence! Definitely going to be something special, there’s a reason he was the crowd favorite. His neck is on the shorter side at the moment but he’s only 2, the neck fairy hasn’t visited yet
Agreed. Ernie is much more at ease with being handled and touched, Bert’s a few steps back from that. He’s doing great with being caught, but he’s still very uncomfortable with being touched.
Ernie putting on the pounds this morning:
As you can see, we’re back to mud this week.
In other news, I introduced them both to beet pulp as a side dish to the ration balancer over the weekend. They were quite confused at first - this is supposed to be food? But Peach convinced them to taste it eventually, and both have taken to it really well. Oh, and I think Ernie has finally figured out the cookie situation - I still have to kind of stuff the cookies in his mouth for him, he hasn’t figured out how to grab things with just his lips yet - but he’s no longer spitting them out. 
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I hope Bert’s wariness is due to lack of handling rather than poor handling. Easier that way, like a mustang.
I have a friend who got a pony they were told could be handled and ridden with just the basics installed - turns out the pony might never have had even a halter on and had been run through stocks up to that point, if any handling at all! This was AFTER they’d popped a halter on and put a (cautious) rider up in the round pen. He was wary, and they were going step by step, but he was actually being an INCREDIBLY willing boy considering they were working off the assumption he knew what was going on. NOPE 
They restarted him once that came to light, but the pony went from the resident unknown to OMG HE REALLY TRIES SO HARD ACTUALLY overnight. Context!
Anyway. I love to see muddy happy boys! At least Peach is helpful at introducing foodstuffs (other than grass, apparently. Rotten pony!).
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Story time!
The pony that I bought off craiglist, partly out of pity. This couple had bought him from an auction after a night of heavy drinking (the purchase was made online). They had another horse, and they absolutely meant well trying to get him out of there - but they weren’t really horse people, you know? And he was a feral young weanling from a reservation in WA state that had just been roughly halter broke to send through the sale. They kept him for a year before admitting that they had no idea how to train a baby and didn’t really have time, anyway. They’d mostly just kept him locked in the stall 24/7 because he was impossible to catch when they put him in their round pen. When I showed up to see this now-yearling (trailer in tow, of course), he was a scrawny yak who barely knew how to lead, with flippers for feet. He sort of knew how to pick up one foot, had definitely never had his feet done. He was still pretty terrified of being touched, and OH - he was still a colt, too. He also turned out to be covered in ticks. DH talked them down on the price and we stuffed him in the trailer ASAP.
He turns 5 this year. He’s still a bit of an odd duck in certain ways, but he is the BEST boy. Very honest. If you’re straight with him he’ll be straight with you. He wants all the information, step by step, no tricks or gimmicks or sneaky behavior and definitely no skipping steps. If you respect his intelligence he will do anything you ask.
Bert reminds me of this pony in a lot of ways.
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This is why you don’t drink and watch auctions although it landed him with you in the end haha
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What, no pictures?
