No Horse Sense

Continuing the same set of photos from yesterday.

As I said, I found a buddy, one that would stick around and let me take photos.

I pulled some grass from the ditch and fed him as a reward for being so patient with me.



I kept experimenting with the settings on my camera, trying to take the same shot with different settings--dusk, twilight, night, day, etc, hoping that when I got home and d/l them, I'd find something worth keeping.

After feeding him the first bit of grass, though, he wasn't going to hang around if I wasn't going to supply more hand-fed treats. After standing still for a few seconds, he would turn to leave, catch up with the other horses which were now grazing on down the fence row.



I'd feed him some more, then quickly move away to take a photograph. I chopped his nose off on this one.




I wasn't liking what I was seeing on the monitor, not that I had a lot of time to view the last picture I had taken because my new friend was anxious to get back to the herd. The setting sun was making the lighter parts of the horse appear too bright and the shadows made other parts too dark.



I finally got a decent shot (well, I think it's decent, click to enlarge) after changing the settings yet again.



I was in such a hurry on some of the photos that when I pulled the grass, I would sometimes get a big clump of dirt on the roots. I usually shook it off, and when I did, the horse would nod its head; I thought it was just a scared reaction to the semi-violent act of my shaking the vegetation but now I'm not so sure it wasn't the horse approving of my action.

Here's a shot I took that's blurred, and that's because the horse got the dirt off that I had forgot. The stuff went everywhere and I was a bit startled by his sudden and quick shakes of that large head.



He went off with his pals after this photograph, obviously disgusted with my improper food presentation. If I could speak "horseese" I bet I would have heard him muttering:

"No horse sense 't'all. "

One Particular Horse

Was out on FM 749 south of Pampa on the Bowers City road and saw a half dozen horses and some fat cattle grazing in a field.



As soon as I got out of the truck, they came over to the fence.



The others moved on, but this particular horse wanted something from me, namely to eat my camera. I pulled some Johnson grass from the barditch and fed him.



He didn't mind when I walked away and took his photo from this side.



But he would turn away when I went around to the other, to minimize the shadows made by the setting sun. This particular horse was particular about his profile, I guess.


Finally, he told me in no uncertain terms:



"That's my bad side!" .

(edited: Here's the SECOND PART of this series)

A horse, of course

West of Stinnett, Texas

Self-Portrait

So I've been told.

Nobody Nose

This wasn't the intended shot; I was wanting take a picture of this mule's entire head close-up, but after changing the setting and being absorbed in making sure things were OK, and then suddenly seeing this in the viewfinder... I was so surprised I accidentally pushed the button and took this photo.

Not a good one...but if you could've seen the mule slobber on my camera and hands.... These mules weren't mean, and one ol' mare was downright sweet, but some of the younger ones wanted a quick nibble, just to make sure I wasn't made out of hay, carrots or sugar cubes, I guess.

Seeing Eye to Eye

Dawn Grazers

The one looking at me was annoyed that I interrupted his early morning repast. It was still very dark because of the heavy cloud cover.

This one didn't seem to mind at all.



Taken 6/28/07 North of Pampa on Hwy 70

Why the Long Face?

Just outside my late parent's home.

It was a little bit anti-social, even with the offer of some stale celery from the bottom of mom's crisper.

It didn't BITE, though, like this one: