MILO - BAD HORSE

A Calm Milo - No Apples in Sight

Yesterday as I was giving my new renter Natalie the "Care and Feeding of Rainbow Ranch" tour. We grabbed a bucket full of fallen green apples I had been collecting from our trees. We headed out to the field to introduce her to Milo, our guest horse. Milo was about half way to the end of the pasture, happily munching dried grass and weeds and leaving lots of manure. When he first came from next door to our field, he hung out at the fence and stretched over the wire to snatch food, ignoring the full field behind him for days. I was delighted to see that he was doing what his owner and I had hoped - cutting the field and saving her hay money.

We entered the field and I called to him and waved the bucket. At first he ignored me, but soon perked up and walked our way. Natalie and I began feeding him the apples. He was a pig and kept nuzzling us for more, spewing apple juice saliva over over us. This was amusing at first.

We had had enough and started walking back to the house. He became quite obnoxious, pushing us with his nose and blocking us with his body. I had never seen this behavior before and was unprepared, wearing thonged sandals with a slight heel, not what one would normally wear to enter a field. This footwear prevented me from getting out of his way in a timely manner. In his eagerness for more apples, his hooves came dangerously close to my bear toes and he was crowding me with his body. Natalie, who was wearing sensible shoes and is a lot younger, offered to take the bucket so I could concentrate on a fast walk.  Milo began to harass her. The last straw was when he turned tail and kicked at her. Absolutely unacceptable behavior!

She kept her cool and asked if she could just put the bucket on the ground and run. I suggested she hold her ground.  I had nothing to defend us with except my voice, which I used loudly, firmly and sternly, "Milo, bad horse. Stop it now! And he did, becoming the gentleman I knew and letting us exit the field with the bucket.

Thank gosh Natalie wasn't injured. She said, "I think I will feed him apples from the fence line in the future."She is a spunky lady, ex professional soccer player, world traveler, and nonprofit founder. Who wouldn't have been frightened? I was.

Later Milo's owner stopped by and I related his behavior. "I won't do that again without sturdy shoes, a bucket in one hand and a stick in the other."

She said she would take a bucket of apples into the field and a training whip and have a serious conversation with him. I almost felt sorry for him.