The Guessing Game

When I got to the barn this morning, Barokko was standing by the gate for once, Normally he's at the top of the hill in the mornings. When I came into the pasture he came straight over to me, and leaned his head into my arms - while it was very endearing, it wasn't his normal behavior, so a bit puzzling.

I led him into the stable to groom and tack up. He seemed very tired, head down, not as interested in his surroundings as he usually is. I checked everything I could think of for pain or signs of illness, but couldn't find anything.

I decided to ride, and see what happened - maybe he was just tired. He seemed willing enough, but it was as tho his body wasn't really cooperating with his mind - a wierd combination of being fresh in the head and lazy in the body.

I kept the training set pretty short, just loosened him up a bit.

Turned him back out, and again he stayed by the gate - usually he trots away to get to the grass and the other horses... hmmm... I went into the stable to put his gear away, and then came back out to check on him - still standing at the gate, and when he saw me, he whinnied several times at me, clearly trying to signal something, but what?!?!?!

I went to his stall to see if anything there looked out of place. Seemed OK, only thing I noticed was that his water bucket was empty. I filled it and brought it out to him in the pasture, figured it was worth a try.

He drank and drank and drank and drank - I filled up the bucket 4 more times before he had had his fill - that's over 40 L in one go!!! No wonder he wasn't himself, poor guy was dehydrated!

Barokko is in one of 6 stalls watered in buckets, all the others have automatic waterers. Apparently, the barn staff had forgotten to water them >:(

Horses teach me all the time - if they seem off, they ARE off. It's up to us to figure out WHAT the problem is, they can only tell us THAT it is.