Joe, We were up there last night until about 3:30 am. The temperature never got lower than 14, and there was no hint of snow. HOWEVER.... we did have a couple of visitors that really worried us for a bit. As we were unloading the trailer when we first got there, the whinnying of the horses in the field across the road seemed pretty loud. Then the clip-clop of the hooves got quite loud. Suddenly, about 20 feet away, two very large (at least 15 feet high!:)) horses came out of the shadows at us. (okay, maybe they were just average size horses, but for a minute there, they seemed huge and scary.) My best hand waving and shouts of "Git!" did nothing to dissuade them from their desire to see what we were about. We could not get them to move more than 10 feet away, and every time we turned our backs, they moved right in, peering over our shoulders. All I can think is that our trailer must have looked like their trailer, and they clearly wanted in. They were very friendly, and I suspect that if we had a saddle with us, we could have gone for a ride. After a few minutes of checking out our trailer, and seeing that no new friends awaited them inside, and they were not going to be invited in, they finally allowed themselves to be shooed away. Of course, they made me chase them with a light and yell the whole way, stopping and looking at me every time I quit, as though to let me know that they were making the rules for this game, and it required that I make a really big fool of myself.... They left us alone for the rest of the night, but I must admit we hesitated about getting the scopes and binoculars out. They were big enough to do a lot of inadvertent damage, and I have no question that they would have wanted a glimpse of the horsehead nebula, if they came back. About 3:15, I began to get an uneasy feeling. I could hear something moving about in the bushes, but none of the tell-tale noises of the horses. I finally got out the weak white light, and was completely unnerved to see two eyes looking at me, from a height of at least 5 feet. The light was not powerful enough to see what was behind the eyes, just them. Then the eyes swung down to 2 feet, back up, and started moving. I yelled at Allen to get the big light, but even that did not make it clear what was out there. Only after the animal moved a bit closer, and was joined by a second pair of eyes, did we realize that it was a return visit from our earlier friends. Once again they insisted on being chased on their terms. At that point, we decided to pack up and head home. All in all, a delightful, if adrenalin filled, night. Be forewarned, apparently the resident horses up there have both advance warning and stealth modes of operation... And they like to get a rise out of observers!
May I forward this to the yahoo LX200 gps group, they were complaining about skunks etc. this summer. Wayne -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-admin@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-admin@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Grahn Family Sent: Monday, December 09, 2002 4:31 PM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Geminids Joe, We were up there last night until about 3:30 am. The temperature never got lower than 14, and there was no hint of snow. HOWEVER.... we did have a couple of visitors that really worried us for a bit. As we were unloading the trailer when we first got there, the whinnying of the horses in the field across the road seemed pretty loud. Then the clip-clop of the hooves got quite loud. Suddenly, about 20 feet away, two very large (at least 15 feet high!:)) horses came out of the shadows at us. (okay, maybe they were just average size horses, but for a minute there, they seemed huge and scary.) My best hand waving and shouts of "Git!" did nothing to dissuade them from their desire to see what we were about. We could not get them to move more than 10 feet away, and every time we turned our backs, they moved right in, peering over our shoulders. All I can think is that our trailer must have looked like their trailer, and they clearly wanted in. They were very friendly, and I suspect that if we had a saddle with us, we could have gone for a ride. After a few minutes of checking out our trailer, and seeing that no new friends awaited them inside, and they were not going to be invited in, they finally allowed themselves to be shooed away. Of course, they made me chase them with a light and yell the whole way, stopping and looking at me every time I quit, as though to let me know that they were making the rules for this game, and it required that I make a really big fool of myself.... They left us alone for the rest of the night, but I must admit we hesitated about getting the scopes and binoculars out. They were big enough to do a lot of inadvertent damage, and I have no question that they would have wanted a glimpse of the horsehead nebula, if they came back. About 3:15, I began to get an uneasy feeling. I could hear something moving about in the bushes, but none of the tell-tale noises of the horses. I finally got out the weak white light, and was completely unnerved to see two eyes looking at me, from a height of at least 5 feet. The light was not powerful enough to see what was behind the eyes, just them. Then the eyes swung down to 2 feet, back up, and started moving. I yelled at Allen to get the big light, but even that did not make it clear what was out there. Only after the animal moved a bit closer, and was joined by a second pair of eyes, did we realize that it was a return visit from our earlier friends. Once again they insisted on being chased on their terms. At that point, we decided to pack up and head home. All in all, a delightful, if adrenalin filled, night. Be forewarned, apparently the resident horses up there have both advance warning and stealth modes of operation... And they like to get a rise out of observers! _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
Jo, Allen, et al- That's a great story. I've seen the white one before, on a number of occasions, and he likes to whinny. When he came to visit me, my trusted, loyal and chicken-hearted blue heeler, Peaty let out a low growel and then retreated to the truck bed! Some help he turned out to be! The horse was very curious about my gear, and I had visions of him grabbing my binoculars by the strap and slinging them around. (Ouch!) He wouldn't take a hint as far as my suggestions to leave, and as you mentioned he just sort of dissappeared when he felt it was time. What a funny guy..... Joe Borgione Grahn Family <bsi@xmission.com> wrote:Joe, We were up there last night until about 3:30 am. The temperature never got lower than 14, and there was no hint of snow. HOWEVER.... we did have a couple of visitors that really worried us for a bit. As we were unloading the trailer when we first got there, the whinnying of the horses in the field across the road seemed pretty loud. Then the clip-clop of the hooves got quite loud. Suddenly, about 20 feet away, two very large (at least 15 feet high!:)) horses came out of the shadows at us. (okay, maybe they were just average size horses, but for a minute there, they seemed huge and scary.) My best hand waving and shouts of "Git!" did nothing to dissuade them from their desire to see what we were about. We could not get them to move more than 10 feet away, and every time we turned our backs, they moved right in, peering over our shoulders. All I can think is that our trailer must have looked like their trailer, and they clearly wanted in. They were very friendly, and I suspect that if we had a saddle with us, we could have gone for a ride. After a few minutes of checking out our trailer, and seeing that no new friends awaited them inside, and they were not going to be invited in, they finally allowed themselves to be shooed away. Of course, they made me chase them with a light and yell the whole way, stopping and looking at me every time I quit, as though to let me know that they were making the rules for this game, and it required that I make a really big fool of myself.... They left us alone for the rest of the night, but I must admit we hesitated about getting the scopes and binoculars out. They were big enough to do a lot of inadvertent damage, and I have no question that they would have wanted a glimpse of the horsehead nebula, if they came back. About 3:15, I began to get an uneasy feeling. I could hear something moving about in the bushes, but none of the tell-tale noises of the horses. I finally got out the weak white light, and was completely unnerved to see two eyes looking at me, from a height of at least 5 feet. The light was not powerful enough to see what was behind the eyes, just them. Then the eyes swung down to 2 feet, back up, and started moving. I yelled at Allen to get the big light, but even that did not make it clear what was out there. Only after the animal moved a bit closer, and was joined by a second pair of eyes, did we realize that it was a return visit from our earlier friends. Once again they insisted on being chased on their terms. At that point, we decided to pack up and head home. All in all, a delightful, if adrenalin filled, night. Be forewarned, apparently the resident horses up there have both advance warning and stealth modes of operation... And they like to get a rise out of observers! _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now
Jo, May I make a suggestion for next time? At a star party at Skyline Drive many years ago I made the mistake of giving the local sheep-herder's horse a handful of grapes. (His name was George and he was from Altair but that's another story ;-) As I had just fallen asleep after stargazing all night I felt a nudge on my tent wall. I awoke to find 'George' pushing his nose into my tent. I shoved his head and yelled at him to get him to leave but to no avail. Then I saw something on the tent floor that I thought might just do the trick. A tin of Altoids!! I put 3 or 4 in my hand and offered them to him. As he chewed them he gave the expression of 'this is interesting' but soon he started shaking his head back and forth and soon was galloping down the road. I've never seen a cobbled horse run so fast. I don't know about the horses at the Gravel Pit...maybe they fancy peppermint. Dave On Monday, December 9, 2002, at 04:31 PM, Grahn Family wrote:
They left us alone for the rest of the night, but I must admit we hesitated about getting the scopes and binoculars out. They were big enough to do a lot of inadvertent damage, and I have no question that they would have wanted a glimpse of the horsehead nebula, if they came back.
Jo (et al.), As a horse owner, I can vouch for the fact that they are extremely curious animals, especially when they feel comfortable around humans. It never fails that if I spend any length of time in a stall cleaning, mending some wire, or doing whatever I can count on the horse (if it isn't busy eating) to come and have a good look at what I'm doing, generally putting his or her nose right on top of whatever it is. In some ways they are like babies, wanting to smell and even "taste" whatever it is that intrests them. Mostly they look to humans for treats or a scratch behind the ear or withers. If you do feed them, you can count on them hanging around until they are full (which takes a lot!). For the most part though they are pretty harmless, but sometimes clumsy, and may step inadvertently on toes or equiptment, so just keep a watchful eye and generally you have nothing to fear from them. My 2 cents on the subject... Rich __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com
participants (5)
-
David Bennett -
Grahn Family -
Joe Borgione -
Richard Tenney -
Wayne Reese