Equine Beach Bums

This spring, Manitoulin Island is experiencing a bit of a drought and temperatures are already tickling the 30's°C. Also, the biting insects are out in full force and these combined factors have altered the daily routines of the horses. While Altamiro and his family still come up to the house for breakfast oats, Mistral's group has become conspicuously absent, not just in the morning, but all the day long.

I had a suspicion the first day that the absentees had decided to spend their days grazing their way down the bluff to hang out at the beach, where the cooling lake breezes provide a welcome relief from the heat and the bugs.

When I refer to Mistral's Group, I speak of those equines who have joined together to form a herd separate from that of Altamiro and his mares. Here is the member list of this alternate herd at this point in time:

The Domestics:

Mistral / 29 yr. old Arabian gelding

Zeus / 16 yr. old Thoroughbred gelding

The Mules:

Dee / ~15-18 yr. old molly draft mule
Doll / ~15-18 yr. old molly draft mule
Jerry / ~15-18 yr. old john mule


The Primitives:

Animado : 2 yr. old half-Sorraia/half Sorraia Mustang colt

Fada : 2 yr. old half-Sorraia/half-Sorraia Mustang filly

Interessado : 2 yr. old half-Sorraia/half-Sorraia Mustang colt

Encantara : yearling half-Sorraia/half-Sorraia Mustang filly


I had opportunity to spend a little time at the beach with Mistral's group on three different days. During these visits I took many photos documenting how these equine beach bums spend their time on the shore of Lake Huron.


The half-mile of Ravenseyrie beach is referred to as a "cobble" beach and is covered by massive boulders, large stones, a variety of rocks and pebbles as well as several forms of clay.
Amazingly, there are many plants that grow down here and many appear to be enjoyable eats for the equines.

Let's explore some of the lake shore smörgåsbord nature has at the ready for our equine friends...

There is a sedgy grass (I've not yet found its true identity) that is abundant on the beach. It's slender, very stiff and rather coarse to the touch. It must have an appealing taste for the horses and mules spent much time grazing the different regions of the beach where this sedgy grass was prominent.
Grazing Beach Grass:

Discussing an anecdote involving bears, here is an interesting tidbit about sedge grass gleaned from Judith Somner's book, The Natural History of Medicinal Plants:

"Barrie Giblert of Utah State University has observed Alaskan brown bears preparing for hibernation. He postulates that the occasional swallowing of whole sedge leaves (Carex sp.) may serve to remove tapeworms from the bears' intestines, before they settle down to a period of prolonged inactivity during which the parasites could do considerable harm to their ursine hosts. The coarse, sharp-edged leaves of sedges may serve to scrape the worms from their points of attachment in the intestines."

Aside from serving nutritional value, what side benefits might sedge grass provide horses, I wonder?

There is a type of Willow shrub that grows among the rocks and this year is the first time I happened to be a witness to the horses browsing it, with apparent relish! From what I can tell this type of willow is identified as Salix bebbiana or Bebb's Willow. All willows are said to provide the beneficial pain-relieving effect that aspirins contain, in fact the Salix family, most notably Salix alba (White Willow) served as the precursor to the modern day synthesized aspirins made in laboratories.
Herbal Horsekeeping by Robert McDowell and Di Rowling tells me that the actions of willow are: "Analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, astringent, febrifuge and tonic." Common uses of willow are to "relieve pain, inflammation and fever."

Might this lake shore shrub also ease the swelling and itchiness of insect bites?


Browsing on Bebb's Willow:

Another treat for me was to observe the horses sampling the offerings in the cat-tail canal. I was surprised that the horses ingested not only the new shoots stems and leaves, but also the downy seed cotton left over from last year. The Common Cat-tail (Typha latifolia) is a plant consumed by many creatures, with the shoots, leaves, stems, pollen, fruit, seeds and rhizome roots providing nutritional value. Various parts of the cat-tail are also useful in nest building, basket making and as soft-packing material. It's quite an amazingly versatile plant and I hope that the severe browsing the horses engaged in has not caused irreparable damage. There are, of course, other areas on the bluff (specifically in moist road-side ditches) where cat-tail abounds, but I always liked having this section of the old boat canal colonized by cat-tail.
Browsing on Cat-tails:

In between dining courses, the horses engaged in a variety of mutual grooming sessions, and at one point the primitive youngsters blended into a four way grooming/yawning fest:

There also was a lot of napping going on:
Sometimes, with a rock as an unlikely pillow:

Sometimes interrupted by those pesky flies:



Mostly, though the napping appeared sublime:


As you can see, the Ravenseyrie horses have no need of fly masks, or insect repellents or electric fans in a deeply bedded barn--they have learned to make the most of each day, symbiotically flowing with their natural environment, altering their routines and habits and predilections to fit seasonal changes and climatic fluctuations.

Their way of life has much to teach me, and I am thankful to be a student here in this wonderful place in time.

Verdantly Voluptuous Vivification

Animado at 14 months of age
Sorraia x Sorraia Mustang

This is the coolest, wettest spring on the island I've yet experienced, with such strong, cold winds that we are still making a daily fire in our wood stove to chase the damp chill out of the house.

The green kingdom is seemingly oblivious to the cold for Ravenseyrie is busting out in voluptuous verdancy of the type that catches in your throat like some strong romantic emotion...such a vivifying thing after the stark monochromatic dormancy of winter!

As mentioned in my last entry, the cold winds have kept the biting insects hiding out in the forest, and the horses can take long and luxurious reclining naps, graze unmolested, engage in sessions of mutual grooming and enjoy playful games.

I've taken some photos over the past few days which I thought readers of this journal might like to see, along with a short video clip. The herd remains split, with the domestic horses (Zeus and Mistral) on a distant parameter and the draft mules (Dee, Doll and Jerry) mostly also banished, but with occasional "floaters' rights" wherein they can pass close by the primitive band without repercussions from Altamiro. During the time I took these photos, the non-primitive herd members were occupied in other sectors of the property. It used to be that hanging out with the herd meant I had opportunity to visit with everyone...now if I want to visit any of the "banished ones", I have to typically head in the opposite direction from where Altamiro and his band is. This will provide me with new challenges, and new opportunities...right now, I'll admit that this separation of the herd leaves me feeling spread a bit too thin.

So, then, onto the pictures!

Siesta Scenes:




Ciente (left) and Zorita are dreaming away a good portion of their morning. I wonder what scenes play out behind their closed eyelids?

Mutual Grooming:


Fada is hoping that she can interest Interessado in a mutual grooming session like that which Ciente and Animado are engaged in, but she wasn't able to get him to give up the good patch of grazing he was well absorbed in. She had better luck with him a bit earlier as you can see from this photo:


Time for games:

Fada and I had just finished an itch session and she decided that she wanted to play with my fly whisk:

But seeing that some games were beginning, Animado came over and decided he needed to show Fada just how to fuddle with Lynne's fly whisk (he's a pro, as you can see):

Soon, it wasn't enough for Animado to be playing with my fly whisk, he wanted my shawl too, so, of course, I gave it to him:
Then, I decided to put the camera into "movie" mode and get some digital video. Zorita by then was feeling left out and came over to investigate (as only Zorita can do, by first being snarky!) She lost interest almost immediately and Animado and I were able to pick up where we left off.

In one sense these games appear to be just idle silly-ness, and yet, these sorts of interactions get the youngsters familiar with the sensations of things on their heads and backs, all in a stress free way. So far, there have only been a scant few opportunities for me to do any "formal" schooling in my "woodland manège", (twice with Mistral, once with Altamiro and also once with Zorita), but for getting young horses accustomed to ground handling, its been my experience that many things can be accomplished right out among the entire group. When the weather turns warmer and it is too hot and buggy to be out in the sun, these guys will be taking to the shade of the forest. My manège is located right in one of their favorite shady realms and I expect there will be many opportunities to invite a yearling inside for a true "one on one" where there will be no interference from the curiosity of those standing outside the rustic fence. Hopefully, I'll have the camera handy every now and then when that time comes, although many times I don't take the camera because while I like to share these moments with others, stopping to try to take photos sometimes is as much a disruption of things as having Zorita burst upon the scene.

To end today's journal entry, I'm putting in two photos of Animado...he's grown so much in one year I sometimes cannot pick him out right away from a distance. When I get closer, its easy of course. In this photo his rear-end has once again grown taller than his front end. In another few weeks it will be the reverse and his withers will be higher than his croup. I've no doubt when all is said and done, he will be a beautifully shaped, uphill horse, like his ancestors.


Look he is now nearly the same size as his mother, Bella!...and he has the wonderful convex profile of his father, Altamiro, as do each of Altamiro's kids.