progress

I cant believe how much my wild ponys have changed in under a week! I thought id take a photo of them each month as a record 4 how much they grow. starting with these 2 pics.

When they first came off the truck they were so thin! But they grey it seems puts on weight right before you eyes. She looks almost chubby now, this is after just 3 day on grass. She just eats, with her, there's no exploring the paddock or checking things out. just a concentrated effort to get as much food into her belly as possible.

The boy has defiantly gained weight too, just not as much as the girl. he is the one off exploring and looking around at everything.

whats interesting though is what they choose to eat. In the wild horse paddock the grass my horses usually disdain is grazed right down, and the rich rye, clover etc is virtually untouched. I still cant get them to touch horse feed, sweet baylage is gobbled up by the other horse doesn't even interest them. my special fiber fresh feed, which is alfalfa and rye grass fermented slightly with molasses isn't even nibbled at when put in the boys stable at night. Yet the weediest most unpalatable looking hay will be devoured in minutes. As i went to clean they boys stable this more there was not a single straw left behind.

One other thing the greys feet are terrible, split and cracked all the way to the top of the hoof in places. Her back right hoof is growing completely twisted, not the leg just the hoof itself. Yet she is completely unfazed. I don't know if her feet just don't bother her. Or is it that wild animal instinct to not show weakness, so as not to be singled out by predators? Even though they would never have come across predators in the wild it is an instinct present in all prey animals. One way or another it will be good to soon hopefully have her comfortable with her feet being handled so that those hooves of hers can be tidied up, then hopefully at least they'll look better.