How Interesting

Sonny and I had some...strange past few days. Last Wednesday everything was normal, then I didn't get to see him much Thursday through Saturday because of my sister's birthday and work. I finally got a chance to go over Sunday night. He started out pretty grumpy, as I mentioned here.

Normally I let Sonny out in the arena while I clean his stall before we play. He likes to investigate and roll and all that good stuff. By the time I go out there he greets me with a little nicker and walks over to me. Sunday night I found him standing in the far in of the arena with his head low and his ears back. He didn't even notice of me. After trying to be interesting by doing everything but hanging from the rafters, he finally walked over to me when I got close enough. As you can see in my other post, he eventually came around and started acting more normal.

Monday at lunch time I went down to say hi and clean his stall before I went to school. Again, I found him at the far end of the arena with his ears back. This time he wouldn't come to me no matter what I did. Even when I drove him away and disengaged him, he still wouldn't come near me. The whole time he kept his ears back and not like focused back, back more than normal. I returned after school to deal with the same thing. I planned on spending some undemanding time with him since obviously something was wrong. We walked around the arena and he put in a tiny bit of effort to be with me, but his ears were still way back.

After some good time of doing nothing I took him back into his stall where his dinner was waiting for him. Normally I make him wait until he asks if he can eat. When I made him wait last night, he actually pinned his ears at me in an aggressive way. I was really shocked!

Although Sonny's ears are pointed backwards a lot, they
are normally a 'relaxed, focused' backwards. I have
really only seen them 'pinned' back when he is around
other horses. 

What would be causing this sudden mood swing? Melissa even mentioned that he just looked depressed. I worried about it all day today. Lately I have been handling more horses than normal; I don't intend on applying human characteristics to horses by saying he was jealous, but maybe he didn't approve of their scent on me? Maybe it had to do with the fact he hasn't been outside to eat grass lately because of the weather? Maybe I have been pushing him too much lately? Every day we go, go, go, play, play, play...maybe he just needed a break?

Today I went down with the idea of spending more undemanding time together. When I went out into the arena there he was giving me two eyes and two eyes and happily walked towards me :). He followed me around while I sent up some things and seemed like we never missed a beat.

I have no idea why the past two days were so unusual. I doubt I will ever truly know, but I can try to keep it from happening again. No longer is our 'day off' going to be on a day when I can't make it over. Undemanding time is still crucial, and I think that is especially true for an LBI. Since I dropped chemistry, I now have a ton of time so I have been playing with him every day. Before I would take days that I didn't have much time and spend them hanging out in his stall. Now that I have more time, I use it to my advantage but maybe not to his. From now on, we will have one undemanding day a week. I think it would be great to take him for a walk down the driveway or through the hay field. Very relaxing, quality time together. I think it will be great for the both of us!