Piute Log...Zack Did a Weird Thing 1999

23 Oct (Sat)     … At the Fremont crossing: Brenda and Zack were both following on their own (to save me from having to lead a long string…I knew they’d just follow their pals). I rode Woody into the river and he was ready for a long drink (as were the rest after their breakfast of alfalfa pellets). Zack did a weird thing: he waded into the river off to my left, right into what is the very deepest hole I know of in the upper West Walker, scoured out by the ’97 flood. In high water he’d have been swimmin’ but the late river is, figuratively, just a trickle so he was only belly deep. I have never seen a horse willingly, needlessly, plunge into deep water…not to mention the obvious enjoyment displayed by the blond horse’s thrusting his entire head into the river, up to his eyes, and tossing it around, scattering water. ◦◦◦◦◦ A week ago, while in town those few days, I fed our horses at the barn. I filled their big Tupperware water trough and checked on it after some minutes. (It takes forever to fill and, quite often, the fill-er forgets that the water’s on and the thing overflows, turning the corral into a muddy quagmire. Ick.) So I stood there, watching, rather than risk starting to do something else and forgetting. The stock all gathered ‘round: our two new guys on one side of the fence and Woody, Zack, Red, and Brenda on the other. [The trough was positioned in a gap in the fencing so animals in two separate pens could have access to it.] Water running into the trough. Zack had his nose in it and was splashing, tossing his head up and down. Five horses and the giant mule were clustered around him, getting splashed. Most odd: at times he’d be flipping his head forward with his lower lip dangling down. I could see it flaring open under the water like a pelican’s bill. He was flinging water on the two new drones who budged not an inch. And then! He’d switch techniques, thrusting his head down into the water (curling it toward his chest) and then his upper lip would scoop water out of the trough making a muddy puddle in the sand and wetting down Zack and all his friends (who stood, shoulder-to-shoulder, getting hosed down without any emotion save an almost imperceptible, vague interest). This event ranks among the more curious things I’ve seen horses do. Which, I suppose, is a commentary on how inexperienced I am with livestock. I watched this show for ten solid minutes as Zack flung water on all his comrades. Good, clean, horsey fun. There is absolutely no telling what makes them tick. No doubt they think the same of us. And that’s what I was thinking today at the river crossing when Zack waded out into the very deepest spot at the ford…

©2016 by Tim Forsell              10 Aug 2016