I told Bill this morning that I can't imagine another animal as perceptive as horses are when a creature of unknown identity suddenly enters their realm.
After some observations today, I now know why Lily seemed so on guard early yesterday morning as she waited in the barnyard for me to take her to pasture.
That behavior even continued for a minute or so after I had turned her loose. Rather than her usual full-speed-ahead gallop to the best grass patch, she simply trotted cautiously across the field and then stood for a while, surveying the area around her.
Later in the morning, while watering the garden, I noticed a statue-like stance from all three horses, similar to that pictured above. Each totally focused on the woods next to their pasture.
So, I put the dogs in the garage, grabbed my camera and headed toward the trail into the woods. After walking just a few steps, I saw a flashy white tail suddenly appear and its owner bounding further into the woods.
The deer had been inching closer to the pasture fence as it grazed on tall grass, and the horses knew it.
This morning the mystery of yesterday morning with Lily was fully answered as I looked out the bathroom window and saw a solitary deer munching nervously in the second pasture.
It's that time, I thought.
More than likely the deer is a doe, and possibly she may already have a young fawn hidden somewhere in the woods or possibly even the tall grass in the second field.
I've often wondered if each spring, there's a mass assembly of the hundreds of deer we see throughout our neighborhood where each expectant mother draws a number and then knows precisely which little plot of land is hers for giving birth to and raising her newborn.
They always seem to have the same pattern----in our case a single mother with a baby or two or three hidden not too far away.
What we don't know for sure this morning is if the doe has given birth, and if she has, will she be aggressive as we've seen from a few other does in the past.
Mind you, we fully respect the rule of staying away from fawns. In fact, one year, I was totally surprised while driving the 4-wheeler out in the woods when I almost ran over a baby curled up in the grass.
Otherwise, we make every effort to stay away.
That said, we've had a few does take an overzealous approach to protecting their young----chasing humans and dogs and even coming up to the yard to let us know that we need to stay away from their baby.
It's been downright scary at times, so we're hoping this year's mom maintains a bit of moderation in being a mom. I guess we'll know in the next few days or weeks just how careful we need to be when going to the woods.
Anyway, it's "oh, deer" time again, marking yet another milestone into this spring soon to turn into summer.
Yesterday, I went to town for my "final,final" purchase of posies and added a row of color to the manure-pile potato patch. It's mostly marigolds.
I'm told that deer do not like marigolds, so I'm hoping they'll stay away from the manure pile, where I prefer not to put up a temporary fence.
Here's a deal, Deer Mom: I'll stay away from your fawn if you leave my flowers alone AND my potatoes! I think that's fair enough.
Besides planting posies and finishing some other projects, Liam and I took a drive up to Caribou Creek off the Upper Pack River Road. I like going up there different times of the year because of the views.
Yesterday offered some good ones of the Selkirk Mountains and of Lake Pend Oreille. Plus, the wildflowers and waterfalls were in abundance, thanks to recently melted snow.
Later, all three of the curious horses above spent some time in the barbershop last night with three bridle paths and a whole lot of whiskers clipped. Lily and Lefty stood side by side in one box stalls thoroughly enjoying their beauty parlor work.
Twas a productive and satisfying day, as most have been during this merry month of May. Have loved it.
Happy Thursday.
No comments:
Post a Comment