Primitive Grullas in Clover

Shelagh and Maeb take a break while I begin taking photos of the splendor that surrounds us.

The prairie land at Ravenseyrie has become a landscape filled with wildflowers, delicious sweet & spicy fragrances and the hum of insects. We've recently had a string of hot and humid days, several of which were accompanied by a noticeable absence of our usual East Bluff winds, making the days dreadfully oppressive and very little for the horses and mules to do but stay continually on the move through their forest trails, brushing the blood-thirsty flies and mosquitoes off.

Prior to this stretch of sultry summer stickiness, we had sublime warmth with gently cooling beezes and more often than not, the horses remained out in the open with heads plucking at the amazing variety of edibles that the environment so abundantly provides.

The primitives group together for a mid-morning nap among the wildflowers.

Encantara wakes from her fully prone nap to nibble on the slender grasses amidst the Ox-Eye Daisys.
Along the tree-line in the background, you can see the yellow of the Buttercups growing there.

We experienced an extremely cool, very wet spring and boy-howdy has this made a huge difference in the amount and size of the wildflowers, grasses, shrubs, etc.! Nothing seems to have benefited from the cool wetness more than the clovers!

We have Red, White and Alsike clovers growing in massive, heavily scented tracts.

Zorita's light grulla color looks especially lovely amidst this tract of clover.

The Alsike clover (Trifolium hybridum) is especially profuse this year, mingling right in with our usual copious amounts of Red clover.

Alsike Clover above, and Red Clover below

With so many cautions against horses grazing on this clover due to its toxic effects of photosynthesis and liver damage, I was initially alarmed to see so much of it growing this year. In years past, the scanty, low growing patches of Alsike clover seemed deliberately passed over by the intuitive herd--but, eegaads! this year they are seeking it out with abandon!

Animado grazing in the Alsike Clover

Zorita feasting on the Alsike Clover

Altamiro pauses from grazing, a Alsike Clover flower dangling from his lips.

Even Encantara is enjoying the taste of Alsike Clover

There have been no detected ill effects of these clover feasts and I have noted that the actual time they spend specifically gorging on the clover is brief, five or ten minutes and then they move back to the grasses.

Ciente and Zorita are the first to make the choice to leave the clover and resume dining on grasses.

If I were a scientist, I'd be keen to test this year's Alsike clover against other years to determine what about the growth this year has made it so attractive for the horses, while in prior years, they've eschewed it. My laywoman's hunch is that in typical growing seasons (which means relatively dry for the East Bluff), the Alsike has a certain unpalatable chemical that serves as a deterrent to animals and insects that would like to consume it, and that unless horses do not have other grazing choices, they will avoid this clover because they find its taste unpleasant. In a year of hyper-abundance, the plant may have no need to produce the chemicals that would account for its toxicity and it is free to be as sweet and inviting (and nutritious) as is the Red and White clover.

Pretty as a picture is our Shelagh!

Some of the other wild flowers that are in bloom now are Ox-Eye Daisy and Yellow Goat's Beard

Yellow and Orange Hawkweed are in bloom too, though not as widely spread as in they were in the drier summers we've had.

Maeb enjoying a summer morning amid the wildflowers

Harvested Red Clover flowers make a delicious and refreshing sweet herbal tea.