I occasionally open the gate to the round pen to clean up manure, and all the horses pile in behind me hoping to find a stray stalk of hay on the ground. I usually have to herd them out when I'm done, but the other night I just put hay in their feed troughs to lure them out of the round pen.Lostine and Gabbrielle immediately trotted out and commenced stuffing their faces. Bombay moseyed on out a short time later, got halfway to his feed trough, paused as if thinking, turned around, walked back to the round pen and shut the gate with his nose. He then looked at me with an expression that suggested he was beaming with pride. I said, "Bombay, you are such a thoughtful horse. Thank you."
I then locked the gate and closed up for the night, making sure that Bombay had settled into his dinner, since he seemed more interested in helping with chores than in getting his nourishment. I went inside the house and told everyone the story of Bombay's good manners. My husband said, "I'm not impressed. I'll be impressed the day he farts and says excuse me."
15 comments:
I am so totally impressed with a horse that politely shuts the door for a lady...a lot of men can learn a lesson there!!!!
Ha. Well, I'm impressed. Besides, he's already shown that he can poop in the wagon for you; it's not his fault he can't say "Excuse me" too!
LOL! Do you think he'd dust?
lol alle did that opening the gate the other day :)
gazi.. my arabian when i bring him in for grain.. he'll actually stand there in front of the bucket and wait for me 2 give the go ahead...
like i always say.. "politeness counts":)
gp
Haha that's a cute & funny story! Your horses seem so adorable!!!
lmfao men, always thinking of bodily functions.
What a good boy. There is always one sweetheart in the bunch:-) I just read about your crazy ride...way to stick it out and end your session on a good note and a happy horse slobbering peppermints.
Your Hubby is a blast! Very nice Bombay, I am impressed!
Well, I'm impressed with Bombay. Now if he'll just clean up the manure for you too.
What a perfect gentleman!
And leaving his food too...
And my thanks to your hubby for being the first to make me LOL this morning.
Well how many men say 'excuse me' when they fart, anyway? Mine doesn't! He just laughs. Gah!
I think you've got one super amazing, intelligent horse there.
Have you ever heard or read about Beautiful Jum Key?
http://www.beautifuljimkey.com/
Quote: "Jim was an educated horse, whose abilities to read, spell, do math, and more, made him more valuable than any racehorse of his time. Together with Doc Key –- an ex-slave, Civil War veteran, horse whisperer, entrepreneur, perhaps the most famous African-American of his day –- Jim became the number one box office star in the nation and energized the worldwide animal welfare movement, making the phrase “be kind to animals” a household ideal."
Makes me think of Beautiful and polite Bombay.
I'm getting ready to read it right now, but when I'm done, I'd be glad to send it along to you, if you're interested?
~Lisa
Lisa - The book sounds interesting.
Regarding Jim Key -- when I was studying psychology in college, we learned about a horse that could supposedly count and do math. The owner or someone would ask a math question (e.g., 2 plus four equals...) and the horse would bob its head the right number of times for the answer.
Well, a scientist took interest, but he found that the horse wouldn't get the right answer if his owner wasn't present. Finally the scientist was able to identify what was going on: The owner was sending the horse an extremely subtle, subconscious cue when to stop bobbing his head. The owner didn't even realize it, but the horse didn't really know how to count -- he knew how to please his owner!
I don't know if this is the same horse, because I don't remember the horse's name, but I think it's an interesting example of how prejudiced we are against an animal's true intelligence. The horse I described may not have been able to do math, but what it was doing was pretty amazing, if you ask me!
Oh Bombay, you are sumthing special!
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