What has Max taught us?

• Well we certainly learned more than we wanted to know about gelding difficulties and surgical procedures.  Not to mention bubbleheaded breeding practices (apparently this affliction came with his bloodline - so let's NOT reproduce it, right? DUH - sigh)
• Round penning can be fun for a horse; Max could not wait to get in there and "go".  He'd put himself on the rail at a trot with his head happily moving slightly from side to side. He would wait for me outside the gate and express serious annoyance at anyone else attempting to "get in line" for the round pen (bottom pic).
• Horses, like people, can be accident prone and into constant mischief.
• That horses who have choked once are prone to do so again, even if they are fine for an extended period of time (so change their diet the first time - no pellets as they will expand with water/saliva).
• The ability of horses to learn from other horses is totally handy information to know.  Max choked a second time a year or so later (he no longer gets pellets) and we were able to unstop him ourselves by using Champ to demonstrate the drinking from the water hose portion - please note: you do not actually give water to the horse (they cannot swallow); it is a matter of flushing out the pellets: water + drop nose to the ground = pellets coming out a little clump at a time.  Your best bet, particularly if it's the first time, is to call your vet to get your horse unstopped.

Favorite Max Anecdote: Pseudo-sibling Rivalry

Max is our scratch and dent, into everything horse.  His mane stays perpetually snarled and he seems to be completely incapable of staying out of trouble (obviously).  He does, however, love working in the round pen even more than playing in the mud; which is a lot, I can tell you.  He is also the obnoxious and annoying little brother Shadow never wanted :o)  They do play together sometimes, but their games are usually fairly short lived.  Shadow plays to win which includes changing the rules to ensure said victory but since Max doesn't let him get away with it (like the others do), they are over pretty quickly.

Aside from perpetual woman pilfering (see Retta's page), Max irritates Shadow faithfully at every meal from the next stall.  Max is definitely the more clever of the two, as he will make faces at Shadow; laying his ears back and turning his tail to pantomime a kick without actually hitting anything.  Of course this in your face "diss" is absolutely unacceptable in Shadow's reality.  He will respond by lashing out a back foot at the offensive Max, deriving a short-lived sense of satisfaction at the nice loud clang made by his foot on the round pen panel between their stalls.  I say short lived, because Shadow inevitably gets scolded for kicking the panel with a bellowed, "Boyyys! - that's enough!" by yours truly.  Of course Shadow stops immediately; pouting, I go back to scooping feed, and Max starts his routine all over again, continuing to needle Shadow until he cannot stand it any more and then PING ~ "Boyyyys!"  Well, you get the idea...

Pictures: Max coming to visit me; Max watching Shadow and Retta (waiting for the perfect opportunity); playing with Rickey's soon to be mangled chair - foolishly left in the pasture while he went to get some coffee; rolling off the mud; it's itchy;  a nice big yawn in my face; Shadow looking for help when Max put his foot through his halter (oops) NOTE: we do not leave halters on our horses for this very reason....Max trotted off before I could remove it, then tried to take it off himself - which he does not do any more (ever); Max telling Cinnamon it is MY turn in the round pen - I was in there with Shadow.