Oh, Porthos. The not-so-elusive but very photogenic troublemaker. Much to Toler's dissatisfaction, Porthos wouldn't leave me alone while I was taking pictures. He seemed to think that I had grain in my camera bag. Magical grain that appears out of thin air. It just needs to be "activated" by diving one's nose into the falsely empty bag an undetermined number of times.
When that plan failed, it was his job to hold onto Toler's lead rope, something that Toler, his alpha, did NOT approve of. After this plan failed, there was only one thing left to do--interrupt every photo he possibly could. Hence how I discovered that the hair of Porthos' star is longer than the rest of his hair. It probably just has yet to shed, but I thought it was amusing.
But, Porthos' main antics in the paddock involves riling up all the other horses so that they can all thunder around the paddock, particularly when The Ladies are nearby/watching. Now, this is a job that circulates among two or three of the horses, and each have a different way of going about it. Most of them, however, just try to irritate the other horses by getting too close, instigating petty biting rows, etc--a plan easily thwarted by Toler, who hates being pestered and needs only turn his back on them. The prospect of getting kicked by Mister Giant isn't all that thrilling, somehow.
Porthos, however, has developed a better tactic, geared specifically towards the colder weather:
Yes. Blanket-wedgies. In the beginning of my "shoot," I watched him employ this tactic three times. He'd quietly and oh-so-innocently sneak up behind a horse, then grab their blanket at the top of the rump and jerk. Typically hard/high enough that the hind leg straps (which criss-cross between the hind legs to help keep the blanket in place) draw tight and create the desired, highly motivating wedgie effect.
Sometimes I think I need to buy a digital camcorder and create a web-documentary. Really, you just can't make this stuff up.
