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Haflinger-eating Snowman (2004)
I've discovered that Haflingers have a built in instinct to flee from 9 foot tall snowmen, so there must be Haflinger-eating abominable snowmen or "yeti" in the Alps that snack on unsuspecting golden ponies for lunch and Haflingers are hard-wired to run the other way when they spy one.
My children cagily built a huge snowman right along side the path between the horse barn and the paddocks, only two feet from where Haflingers must pass. It happens to be the most downhill part of the slope between house and barn, so rolling huge balls was made alot easier. This was a particularly creative snowman ala "Calvin and Hobbes" cartoon fame for those of you who used to enjoy the various snowmen that Calvin would make with his tiger Hobbes--we're talking full character costuming with facial expression, personality and a story to tell.
But it was clearly abominable to the Haflingers. The minute their nose was out the door of the barn they stopped and looked at the new monster who had invaded their safe barnyard, but after all, breakfast was waiting, so with little urging continued on with me as I was between them and the snowman. There were a few snorts and dancing steps as we passed. But returning to the barn in theevening, before dark, that snowman was on THEIR side of the path without me, the fearless leader, in between, and that was simply more than they could cope with. Even 20 year old Amos stopped and asked if I'd switch sides and lead from his right side as he was more willing to sacrifice me than himself to the outstretched arms of the snowman.
Guess we'll have to expose the horses to various types of scary snowmen in various get-up and poses when our blizzardy winter weather clears in the next day or so. After all, Haflingers, above all, must learn to cope with adversity and threat. Even if it appears to be a Haflinger-eating abominable snowman masquerading as a bunch of snowballs stacked on top of one another by three children enjoying a joke at some ponies' expense.
Emily from BriarCroft