The Goat Wars, Part II

21 August 2011 1 Comment

I may be winning the Goat War.

After a couple standoffs, the goat realized he could not win if I was between him and the paddock.

Did I mention he’s smart?

He figured out that every time I visit, I pull Ro out of her paddock, do stuff with her, and then put her back. After she goes back in, food appears.

The goat started waiting for me to pull her out, then he went and hung out in her paddock, waiting for me to bring her back. The first time he tried this, I led Ro into the paddock and we both started at him in confusion: What are you doing here?

He nosed the food dish and looked back at us: Mine. Fill it.

I chased him out, dumped Ro’s food, and we went back to the standoff.

Then we had a brief respite: Ro got an abscess and for a week or so I was soaking her foot. Feeding her while I soaked it solved several problems at once, and the goat was uncharacteristically slow to catch on. However, after a few days of Ro being turned back out and food not appearing, he realized tactics had changed somehow and started wandering through the barn while I had her soaking, sizing up the situation. About the time he was getting bold and thinking about challenging her for her bucket, her foot was good to go and we went back to feeding in the paddock.

And now he thinks it’s serious. He doesn’t wait for me to take Ro out any more. He just hangs out there all. the. time. If he seems me looking at him, he’ll lick the salt block, like I’m going to believe that’s all he’s after.

Fortunately, the fact that he is in the pen means I’m often holding Ro’s lead rope when I chase him out. Ro is figuring out that he will run away, even if you have to run into him to get him to budge. Plus, some of the other horses are more aggressive about defending their food, and the goat seems a little more cautious about equine body language now. I actually saw Ro chase him off her hay the other day, so I think she might—might—start defending her grain as well.

In the meantime, the poor soul has grown so fat on all the grain he steals that he can’t do much more than waddle around, so I can often catch him and tie him up again.

The barn owner says she might have found someone who will take him, and I hope that’s true. Even though Ro and I seem to be winning this war, it’s annoying.

I am battling a goat. On behalf of a horse.

You couldn’t count the number of things wrong with this situation if you tried.

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