Full Friesian Alert!

Disclaimer: No photos. Sorry.

I love when Chrome shows his Friesian side! For those of you who are not very familiar with the Friesian breed here is a description of the Full Friesian Alert:

"FFA: Affectionately known as "Full Friesian Alert", this is when a friesian spies something interesting/spooky and does a "four on the floor" jump and leg plant, head craned high, ears perked, totally tense and stares at something."

It is from Legacy Friesians page telling All About The Friesian. It is a very interesting read for those considering owning a Friesian or if you're just curious.

So anyway, back to Chrome. When I feed them I usually halter him and then turn him loose and he walks to his bowl to eat. When I walked over to tie him up our cat appeared at the edge of the ditch, startling him. He made a leap straight into the air and scrambled back a couple of steps, then puffed himself up in FFA. A lot of people actually describe seeing a Friesian in FFA like see a cat all puffed up, back arched with it's hair on end. Friesian just seem to grow as they puff themselves up. I was so proud of his response. He didn't try to run away or anything.

About ten minutes later one of our Phoenix roosters flew up onto the gate right above Chrome's head startling him again. Normally he isn't so reactive, but I think the cat had him on edge. He flew backwards and hit then end of the rope, then he stepped forward off the halter pressure and stared at the rooster like, "Oh ok. It's just you." I was so proud of him. Some horses, when startled, then start fighting the rope because they feel trapped. This results in a broken rope, halter or possibly even an injured horse. I did have him tied with a quick release knot so if he had decided to fight it I could just step forward, pull the rope and release him. Anyway, just thought I would share. :D