Category: GiGi

Horses are designed to graze. They eat small bits of food all day long. Long ago, the horses ate all the grass in their day pasture so Aunt Mel makes certain they always have a supply of hay on which to munch.

Hay can be bought in square bales. They weigh about 75 pounds. Depending on the density of each flake, a square bale may last two days. Aunt Mel stores a weeks supply of square bales in her garage. They take up a lot of room and make a mess.

So usually Aunt Mel buys a big round bale of hay. A round bale is a spiral collection of loose hay that is bound together by string mesh. Round bales weigh about 600 pounds and will last almost 2 weeks. They are left out in the pasture for the horses to eat at will. Round bales are best because the horses can graze all day.

Sounds like a win, win for everyone except for one factor. The horse’s day pasture is a slight hill. Aunt Mel totes the round bale in her red trailer, carefully driving through the pasture to the unloading area behind the well. The ground is just a little flattered and supported by large wooden poles on both sides, the round bale stays in place.

Except when GiGi has an itchy butt. When GiGi needs to scratch her backside, she backs into the round bale, leans back and sways from side to side against the hay. The strands do a sufficient job of itching. But one day she leaned back a little too hard. In her itching zeal, she pushed the bale over the pole. It rolled down hill unraveling until there was no more round bale. Instead, there was a four foot wide, one foot thick layer of hay that went about 25 yards across the pasture. Aunt Mel was so mad!

The horses only ate part of the unraveled hay. Instead they used the hay as a soft bed for napping and as a bathroom area. Most of the hay was wasted just because GiGi had an itchy backside. Next time Aunt Mel bought a round bale, it was supported by much larger wooden poles.

When Aunt Mel was a child, she begged for a horse but never got one of her own. So when she graduated from college and got her first job, the first thing she bought was a horse – GiGi.

Aunt Mel’s friend, Lisa, grew up on a big horse farm. Her family bred and showed prize Arabian horses. One day, Lisa took Aunt Mel to one of the big pastures behind the riding ring. It was full of baby horses that had just been weaned from their mothers. They would live together for about a year, growing into mature horses until they were old enough to train for the shows. Lisa pointed out a delicate brown speckled baby and said she could be mine for a special “friend’s discount”. Aunt Mel fell in love.

GiGi was the baby of Lisa’s National Park Horse Arabian mare. She was bred to a famous stallion with the hope of having a large baby. But GiGi was born small and delicate – not the type of horse that the show crowd really wanted. But her delicate features suited Aunt Mel just fine. And it turns out that being dainty in appearance would have absolutely no bearing on GiGi’s personality. From day one, GiGi claimed her status as “top mare”. She was the boss over every horse she encountered. GiGi had very clear rules about behavior and hierarchy and she would reign her opinion on everyone including, sometimes, Aunt Mel.

GiGi lived at a few different farms until Aunt Mel purchased her own. GiGi was as happy as Aunt Mel to have a permanent home with a walk-in barn, grassy pastures and a big oak tree perfectly suited for afternoon naps in the shade.