Desert Horses

Welcome to my horse blog, Desert Horses. We live in the desert southwest, near Palm Springs, CA, but board our horses up in our local mountains where it is cooler in the summer. I have 4 horses, all rescues. Here is the ranch up the mountains where the horses stay.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Dirty Sunni!


My gelding Sunni, the one on my header photo, is usually so shiny, but yesterday I led him down to the arena and he, of course, immediately rolled in the dirt! He now rolls completely over, which is something he didn't do for a long time. It was almost as if he was afraid to do so. Do horses learn to roll completely over, from side to side? Is it a maturity thing? I do notice that Scout rolls completely over, too, but she always has...Gigondas only does one side at a time, and so do Quad and Cali.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Someone had a good roll!

Anonymous said...

I meant to add - I think some of the rolling behavior is learned, and some has to do with physical/emotional comfort. I've always taken it as a good sign that a horse is feeling pretty good when they roll all the way over - not to say that a horse that doesn't is uncomfortable. But there also seems to be a strong habit component for many horses as well - they have a rolling "style".

Cheryl Ann said...

Kate, I think you are right. Scout has ALWAYS rolled all the way over, but Sunni, who was my first horse, hadn't. Now he is. I'll really have to watch the others!!!! Good point.

Barb said...

I think Sunni is a typical boy who loves to play in the dirt. He looks like he's enjoying himself.

Gail said...

Just as beautiful dirty!