Pet pets

Llama nanny Pequena with Gizmo, Glitch and Gamma

It's not unusual for animals to have pets. Sometimes it's human coerced, like race horses with their pet goats. We had a race horse, Tisa, who had pet chickens.

Other times, they just buddy up on their own.Shawn's horse Nugget had a pet type relationship with a goldfish who lived in her water trough. We used to put the goldfish in the big tank to help keep the algae down. These fish lived several years. Nugget's fish would come play with her when she was drinking. Over the years she started hanging her tongue out in the water trough and the fish would nibble on it. By the time the fish passed away, it would splash and play with Nugget. She spent days with her head hanging over the trough when the fish died.

Gemini riding Dapper Dan

Sometimes, you're not sure who would be classed as the pet. Right now, our baby goat kids are working hard at being llamas. They wander around under Pequena's feet while grazing and climb on her back when she's laying down. The mama goats seem to really like this arrangement, then none of them has to babysit. They have a nanny.

The dairy goat kids had a game this spring that we called "ride the ram." Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be fun anymore after we sheared Dan.

However, the latest pet relationship is raising eyebrows and causing concern. Fria, Lena's 29-year-old Arabian mare (mother of Tisa and 11 other fantastic horses) found a new pet up in the woods above her pasture. She is very attached to this creature. She nuzzles it and it stays with her except during the heat of the day when it goes back into the forest. Now there are lots of critters that a horse could make a pet out of and people would ooh and ahh and think it was cute, however, a razorback hog is not one of them!

Pig, a wild razor back hog with Fria

Unfortunately, the pig has started chasing sheep and is fouling all the water troughs, so I think we'll have to help another horse through the grieving process of loosing a pet.