05/23/08 Nasty Neighbors II

Yesterday, I told you about some nasty neighbors in bunchgrass pastures, but I failed to tell you about one surly individual. I'm Jeff Keane; today I'll correct that oversight. One day as I found the horses to bring them to the corrals I noticed three head off by themselves. Now that's not too unusual but these three weren't necessarily part of a clique that normally ranged together. When I got the bunch corralled I found these three horses had porcupine quills in their noses. I thought it was interesting the other horses had stayed away from those three or those three had separated themselves because they were different from the herd. Nature can be fascinating. Anyway, two of the horses only had about four or five quills in them and they were glad to have us get them out. The third filly had way too many little spears in her nose and got a little more than tired of having them pulled out. It took a whole lot of sweet talk, quick work with pliers and patience from both horse and handlers to finish the job. I did make one other observation about this situation. In most rankings, those that study this sort of thing place dogs higher on the animal intelligence scale than horses. The point is these horses have never had another run-in with nasty neighbor, Mr. Porcupine, but I can't tell you how many dogs I've heard of and seen that just can't leave a porcupine alone. Are they that stupid or are they just thrill seekers? I'm Jeff Keane.