Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Stumped

Hank is a licker. He'll lick anything – fences, your hand, your clothes, you name it. After he eats a treat or his grain, he'll go over and lick the pipe in his stall for a few minutes. It's as if he's pushing the flavor into his taste buds so he can savor it. He's been doing this for all the years that I've had him so I've ceased worrying about it, but it's still got me stumped.


Me: Hank, leave George alone! He's not hurting a darned thing.

Hank: He's too close to my stump.

George: Kiss my ass.

31 comments:

  1. A good laugh first thing in the morning!

    You always come up with the best 'conversations' between your animals ... so much so that my coffee mug must sit on my desk while reading your blog!!! HA!

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  2. My husband's TWH Casey loves to lick and give kisses, too. You can't be around him without getting your clothes all mucked up. He's such a kissy guy.

    But I haven't seen him lick other stuff like the Hankster. Hmmm. Mineral deficiency?

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  3. Maybe Hank just likes to lick...?

    Poodle Angus licks (almost constantly) because his ears itch way down inside and somehow licking scratches that itch . . . from the inside.
    That's my theory anyway, after fourteen+ years of observation.

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  4. Boredom? Salt? Just a habit? Who knows. Animals all have their quirks don't they?
    Suzanne

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  5. Very funny. Hank can't hold his licker! We have one horse that does that too. Nate. They can stump us for sure.

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  6. You go, George. Power to the burros.

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  7. What a great way to start my morning! I just love your animals and that caption was perfect! :)

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  8. Now THAT'S a comment I could use almost daily. I like George.

    Di

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  9. I second what Flartus said. (But we still love ya, Hank!)

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  10. Poor George, he just wanted to see if Hank would share. :)
    Maybe Hank is concerned about having horse breath after eating. He's doing a tongue scrapping to make sure his breath is fresh and clean.

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  11. literally LOL!

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  12. Hilarious! I just hope Hank doesn't get a splinter in his tongue!

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  13. LOL! That's funny! Thanks! :)

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  14. The 'boys' sound just like my sons when they were younger.

    I had a horse that licked cars. I thought he liked the salt (in the winter) but he did it year-round. I finally forbid him from licking when licking wasn't enough and he bit the car - left nice, long paint-less scratches from his incisors....uh, mom, I have no idea how those funny scratches got there.

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  15. Love your site; especially the photos. As a long-time breeder of paints, I suggest that you put out at least one and maybe two mineral/salt blocks. All horses (and cows) need salt and they will try to get it anywhere they can. Hank and the other guys will love you more for it!!
    Keep up the great work!!

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  16. For those of you wondering if Hank might have some mineral deficiency... the only things around here he doesn't lick are the salt and trace mineral blocks in his stall. Figures. So I topdress his daily grain ration with Purina's Nature’s Essentials Free Balance 12:12 supplement.

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  17. Around here if he licked any pipes, there would be a panic call for a kettle of warm water to get the tongue off the pipe! I guarantee that he would not do it a second time, particularly if he reared up and left the tongue skin behind, glued to the post!

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  18. Sometimes licking is like a cat's "kneading"...it's a way of pacifying. As long as it doesn't go far enough to maybe turn into cribbing or windsucking it's probably consoling to the handsome boy and not harmful.

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  19. my horse also does not enjoy his three types of salt provided, so i top-dress too. today i found him licking the metal gate post and wondered if his tongue would freeze to it and i'd have to call the fire dept.

    i love hank's jet black tail.

    ~lytha

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  20. This post is so cute...thanks for the giggles.
    Hey I follow this gal and when I saw donkey......well you and Justina popped into my head. It is a stencil of a donkey. Just passing the info on..
    http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/2010/12/vintage-kids-printable-donkey-stencil.html
    The Olde Bagg, Linda

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  21. I love the commentary, thanks to a laugh!

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  22. Loved it! George wasn't in a hurry to move away. Maybe he wanted to try the stump lick also!

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  23. My horse has a huge mineral/salt block. But he still licks. Especially after cookies. And he likes to lick hands. And dogs. He's a licker. It's a hobby I think.

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  24. LOL, LOL....PERFECT!! This is really great!

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  25. Maybe stump licking is 'tree hugging' for horses - no arms, ya see ;-). It honestly wouldn't surprise me if he's just a 'kissy' boy. He seems the affectionate type :).

    The stables where I kept my horse used to have a pony who would stick his tongue out at you when he wanted a Polo Mint and he seemed to enjoy having the tip of his tongue stroked with your thumb and forefinger when he stuck it out at you.

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  26. Rancher woman, Carson..... you make me laugh. I gotta a dog that eats everything in sight too..... You do just get used to it don't ya..... thanks for the really good gut bustin' laugh I had after reading this post.

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