T: "Gene, did you remember to pick up the extra special and good berry treats for the horses?
G: "Brace yourself.... I went to both Granges and they are no longer carrying them.
T: OH NO! ( said with extreme shock and dismay)
G: "I did pick up this vastly inferior bag of old dry looking treats, maybe they won't notice...." ( voice trailing off as he looks into the distance, a broken man)
The sad truth was they did notice. In fact Cooper just about spit his out the first time and Dandy wouldn't take one until he had seen Cooper eat his first. Now carrots do make great treats but I'm not always fond of my pockets being stained orange and kind of slimy. Plus, they get carrots every day with their wee amount of cob and vitamins. Hardly a treat and I don't hand out treats just because. There are conditions on treats, so when they get them, they really are treat deserving. We had certainly fallen from grace and it felt like maybe they had saved a particular spot for us in Dante's Inferno, horse treat hell.
So, fast forward to the beginning of November. I am still lamenting the loss of good treats and they who have not forgotten are still not feeling the treatyness of the new treats. So, there I am in the Grange, again looking at the treat selection and sighing. Another horse controlled person is next to me. Her horse likes the apple treats, of which they have 5000 bags available. I tell her the berry treats are tops in my barn. She tells me that she's seen them over at the Big R, in White City. REALLY!? The ones that grab you with their delicious smell as you walk by, THOSE treats? Yes she says as she inches slowly away from me.
White City is only about 45 miles away, Gene goes through White City every time he goes to the apartments in Shady Cove. Gene went to Shady Cove yesterday.
We will be horse heroes. Our pockets and hands will again get that extra attention they have been so missing. Horses will listen with baited breath for that magic cue that means a treat worthy behavior has occurred.
When I walk out that door, pockets loaded with those incredibly scented berry treats, they will know I'm coming and the good treats have returned.
10 comments:
Yay!!! We've faced similar issues with dog treats believe it or not. There are a certain small kind that we like and Bailey likes. (He's not picky - but we like small treats that we can break up into even smaller pieces.)
There was joy in our house when we got the new supply - just like there's joy in your house.
Does that count as Black Friday shopping???
Hope the horses love them and I hope your closer horse shop starts stocking them again!! (We'd even looked into mail ordering treats - but drew the line there!!)
Sue
Oh yes, the dog treats must be of a certain type too. Smoochie has sensitivities to wheat, corn etc. All the usual culprits causing yeasty ears. Anyway, we have a specific brand of biscuit we buy that the dogs all love.
Hmm, I'm would say that treat shopping counts on Black Friday, so that makes Gene well ahead of the game this year. :-)
Mail order can be a easier. I use to get my dog food delivered once every 6 weeks in bulk ( when it wasn't available locally) of course shipping costs where MUCH cheaper then.
Since I am not a pet owner - the only way I can compare this would be really good chocolate icecream vs cheap 5 qt. store brand chocolate icecream. With the cheap stuff - it's not even worth scooping it up to eat!
So yay! the "really good icecream has arrived"! I'm sure the horses are doing the happy dance.
I don't hand out treats "just because" either, but none of my animals are so picky. Russell far prefers fresh produce, but likes most anything but TACO (someone steered me wrong on that one!).
"Another horse controlled person" - I like that. I'm not one but I know quite a few~
LOL, yes, Dawn, it's JUST like having the store brand ice cream instead of the good stuff.
Michelle, Someone suggested taco's for a horse? I'm stumped. We have a few things we offer up at times, they love toast edges, pears, apples, carrots of course, although Imp wouldn't touch a carrot for his first year or so. The bagged treats are nice to have on hand at the barn. Sometimes I go out for one thing and end up doing something completely different, that might deserve a treat. Easier than running back to the house.
Sharon, I swear between the dogs, the cats, horses and goats we spend more on goodies for them than we ever do for ourselves should there be a tally told. I've found I am actually pretty thrifty when it comes to horse things when I discover what other horse blind friends do/spend.
Theresa, TACO stands for timothy, alfalfa, corn and oats, and it's a cylindrical cube complete feed to replace hay, for instance when packing into the high country. Our horses are unimpressed with it as a treat, although I am sure they would eat it as rations if presented with it. However, I would worry about choke....
Oh, TACO is made by LMF Feed....
Oh the lengths we go for our wonderful companion animals. I know that Twill has a certain kind of chewy bone that we only give her when we must leave her on her own for a few hours. I was thrilled to find them at the Shop N Kart. Otherwise I would have had to track them down on the internet! Good that you were able to track the horse treats down and get them!
Score one for the humans!!!! Good for you - I can't stand it when Shadow spits it out!
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