It is incredible how animals have such individual personalities. My zebu steer is super curious and playful. He's bold when he wants to be but cautious when he needs to be. He is very vocal, voicing his opinion in chuffs and grunts. My blind heifer calf has suffered in her early life on the dairy farm and her personality expresses her lack of life. But she has begun to develop an adorable personality, and now at 7 months old she's learned that experiences can be fun! She's bonded deeply with me and I feel a connection with her almost more than any other animal I have had the privilege of caring for.
Satin, by default, is my very good partner. I accept her quirks like I would my child's. But Dancer is so different from Satin. She's a bleeding heart, desiring only to please the alpha. I don't know if it's because I can read horses better now than ever or if I truly have never met another horse like Dancer, but she is so unique! Where Satin would look for something to push my buttons, Dancer tries her heart out to make me happy. It's humbling to have such a loyal friend. And to think she was "this close" to becoming dog food. She was loaded into a deteriorating trailer with a truck bed containing a huge pile of halters. The "buyer", a brash, heartless woman, was taking Dancer for free, claiming that Dancer who was backed only a handful of times was going to be a child's lesson horse. Dancer willfully loaded and was taken to the transport facility where there were dozens of horses in multiple small paddocks. The next day the previous "owner", with much pressure from her horse savvy friends, changed her mind and wanted Dancer back. She had to pay money to get her back and came to pick her up. When she arrived at the facility there was only one horse on the entire property this time: Dancer. The only soul saved by grace. After that Dancer was abandoned at the boarding farm I managed. We bonded quickly and I knew she was a special girl.
Yesterday I hopped up on her bareback with a halter and rope and she didn't flinch. She could have told me to f*ck off since I had not been on her back for months and months. But she just said, "Okay! Now what? What shall we do?!"
Sometimes I wish Dancer would rub off on Satin, but honestly I like my girls just the way they are.
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