Post by Catrin on Dec 24, 2009 15:33:07 GMT 1
Each morning I get the pleasure of standing in a snowy field for ten minutes, watching horses and robins. There are four geldings and when we arrive they are standing quietly browsing for the remains of last night's haylage, or just waiting and watching for the new supply of forage to appear 'out of' the ground!
One of us gets haylage drops off a few piles and the horses start muching, while the other makes up four feeds. We put Mr I'll-have-yours-but-you're-not-having-mine on a headcollar and distribute the feeds, so they swap from haylage to bucket and all continue eating peacefully.
So we have four horses each with a pile of haylage and eating a bucket of food and are joined by four robins - one each. This symbiotic relationship works for a while, Freyr can't interrupt anyone else's feeding because when he tries, he finds himself at the end of a rope, remembers what he was doing and goes back to eating. The robin stands on the edge of the bucket, top of the haylage and even Freyr's foot, eating with a certain amount of discernment, but even before Freyr gets restless to investigate the other buckets, the robin's on a quest of his own.
It's always Freyr's Robin who starts it, flying over to move the nearest robin, doing what Freyr would do if he could, to the nearest horse. When you watch the various behaviours we have Eldar, our other TB and his robin eating totally oblivious to anyone else. If Section B, Jimmy decides to try Eldar's bucket, Eldar will share. Jimmy doesn't stop long, as, like Goldilocks, he knows there's other food to try. If another robin arrives, Eldar's robin hops back a step and gets stuck in again when the other robin goes off chasing one of the other two again.
The fourth horse, Caine justs swaps to Jimmy's bucket when he sees Jimmy arrive, his robin flies off and when Jimmy settles, it returns and tucks back in.
Horses exhibit certain behaviours that may benefit them when food is scarce, but not when there is plenty provided. In fact, if allowed to, Freyr spends so much time moving horses away from food in buckets, that he eats less than they do. Of course, with Freyr constrained, Jimmy is then free to acquire other buckets, though he never tries to get Freyr's.
The one who fares best is Eldar, he doesn't try to take anyone else's but he won't move for anyone except Freyr, and he will share. His sharing is interesting to watch, as Jimmy gets his head in Eldar's bucket, Eldar gets hold of the rim, lifts it and puts it down nearer to him. Jimmy sometimes moves to continue eating, but often gives up and goes to take Caine's.
The bossy robin, who always starts with Freyr's food, maybe because he has to be brave enough to join a human as well as a horse, is also the one who does the most chasing and the least eating. Eldar's robin eats the most.
So do robins choose horses that are like them, like children choose their friends and did robins learn the behaviour from the horse, or maybe the robins taught it to them in the first place. I could spend ages watching horses, you learn so much when you do, but I didn't expect to learn so much from watching robins in the morning, in the snow too.
One of us gets haylage drops off a few piles and the horses start muching, while the other makes up four feeds. We put Mr I'll-have-yours-but-you're-not-having-mine on a headcollar and distribute the feeds, so they swap from haylage to bucket and all continue eating peacefully.
So we have four horses each with a pile of haylage and eating a bucket of food and are joined by four robins - one each. This symbiotic relationship works for a while, Freyr can't interrupt anyone else's feeding because when he tries, he finds himself at the end of a rope, remembers what he was doing and goes back to eating. The robin stands on the edge of the bucket, top of the haylage and even Freyr's foot, eating with a certain amount of discernment, but even before Freyr gets restless to investigate the other buckets, the robin's on a quest of his own.
It's always Freyr's Robin who starts it, flying over to move the nearest robin, doing what Freyr would do if he could, to the nearest horse. When you watch the various behaviours we have Eldar, our other TB and his robin eating totally oblivious to anyone else. If Section B, Jimmy decides to try Eldar's bucket, Eldar will share. Jimmy doesn't stop long, as, like Goldilocks, he knows there's other food to try. If another robin arrives, Eldar's robin hops back a step and gets stuck in again when the other robin goes off chasing one of the other two again.
The fourth horse, Caine justs swaps to Jimmy's bucket when he sees Jimmy arrive, his robin flies off and when Jimmy settles, it returns and tucks back in.
Horses exhibit certain behaviours that may benefit them when food is scarce, but not when there is plenty provided. In fact, if allowed to, Freyr spends so much time moving horses away from food in buckets, that he eats less than they do. Of course, with Freyr constrained, Jimmy is then free to acquire other buckets, though he never tries to get Freyr's.
The one who fares best is Eldar, he doesn't try to take anyone else's but he won't move for anyone except Freyr, and he will share. His sharing is interesting to watch, as Jimmy gets his head in Eldar's bucket, Eldar gets hold of the rim, lifts it and puts it down nearer to him. Jimmy sometimes moves to continue eating, but often gives up and goes to take Caine's.
The bossy robin, who always starts with Freyr's food, maybe because he has to be brave enough to join a human as well as a horse, is also the one who does the most chasing and the least eating. Eldar's robin eats the most.
So do robins choose horses that are like them, like children choose their friends and did robins learn the behaviour from the horse, or maybe the robins taught it to them in the first place. I could spend ages watching horses, you learn so much when you do, but I didn't expect to learn so much from watching robins in the morning, in the snow too.
To go with the fat cat and the fat horses 
