6. Flicka's Journey - Nurture verses Nature

Flicka arrived at Windy Coulee in November 2014. She has a long journey of recovery ahead. She was fit and healthy in 2011 this is her story.

Saturday November 29th I let the big gelding out into the field again, see if he can behave himself.  He thinks he is the head horse out there.  In a truly natural herd, Flicka may have been injured or worse, and that could mean death.  Nature can be cruel, and that is where I draw the line with natural horse keeping. I removed the gelding again.

Sunday morning I hiked out to the horses and videoed Canadian horses in their natural environment.  They had just spent a chilly minus 30 celcius or so night out in the pasture.

Flicka has a herd now.

All the horses were taking turns sunning themselves in the cool, but bright sunlight.  A few were pawing through 2 feet of snow and eating prairie grass.  Flicka was shaking.  I was tempted to halter her and bring her into the corral, but stayed and watched a while.  She was nipping low branches and twigs to eat, and then found a spot the Canadian horses had cleared and munched on grass.  She grazed the cleared patch.  Next, she found a snow covered spot, pawed her way through and found more grass.  Resilient, tough, with good instincts.  She had after all, thrived while living on a expansive grassland ranch in southern Saskatchewan for her first 4 years.  I feel those 4 years gave her the strength and good health to make it through the later 3 years of not such a great situation.

I told my nurturing self, that keeping Flicka in the pasture was the best thing to do, even though a human probably would have needed a cup of hot chocolate, a blanket and a seat in front of the fireplace at a time like this.

She is eating prairie grass and warming herself in the winter sun!

Keeping tabs on a small dark brown pony in a herd of various sizes of black Canadians simply takes a pair of binoculars and some inferencing . . . “oh yes, Flicka is fine, I see a pony just a bit further from the bunch, grazing, ah, then she runs away from a black horse making a statement, a little buck of protest, and then goes back to grazing.”  I think she is going to be okay.  Though, I kept that big gelding out of the mix for the week!






copyright Windy Coulee Canadian Horses - Heidi Eijgel