Well, I arrived at the barn where I board one of my horses to find a surprise. Apparently, sometime during the wind and rain storm that we had had the night before, Dorian decided he wanted OUT of the stall. The surprise I found were two holes through the walls to the outside of the barn. One was rather substantial; the other not quite as bad.
When I had arrived the night before to feed him his dinner and muck out the stall, it was the beginning of the storm. Both windows in the stall were uncovered and unabled to be covered so wind and rain and twigs, etc. were pelting into the stall, binging Dorian on his sides and backend. Now, if I were Dorian, I would have been pretty miserable. However, there was not a thing I could do to "fix" the situation except throw a blanket on him and pray for the best. It could have been worse, I imagine. He could have decided to kick the entire wall through and get himself all the way outdoors. Had he had to stay in the stall for more time, I'm sure this is just what he would have done. Apparently this off-track Thoroughbred likes the outside and the opportunity to be a horse. How can I fault him that? After spending years in a stall I am sure that not only does he not like being confined in a small space, but he also may feel the need to be able to get out and RUN when he feels threatened. Now, this is a 17.2 hh horse, mind you. Not your everyday, average, 1000# saddle horse. He's a BIG boy! As I've found to be true with most larger horses, he has a big heart to go along with his big body! I couldn't blame him for kicking through the walls. The floor of the stall was nothing but saturated shavings and manure. The wind was cold and the rain was sharp.
Now, some people would think that he was a "bad" horse for doing this. As I said, *I* can't fault him at all. He was uncomfortable. He was cold. He apparently was frightened and he needed to move his feet. He was just being a horse. Speaking of which ...
Horses don't think logically as humans do. There is no way that Dorian could have thought to himself, "Well, gee. It's only a bit of water. I'm not going to melt, for heaven's sake. I need to stay inside the stall to keep "safe" and actually, it's not forever. So, I think I'll just stand here and munch my wet, soggy hay and wait for the sunshine to reappear."
