Digby vs Stall Rest

Digby has been slightly amazingly lately. That's saying something considering I think he's practically the best hony (for those of you non-horse people: hony is a clever nickname for those equines who are stuck above the legal limit of pony by an inch or two.... hence horse/pony = hony) to ever grace the earth and perfect in just about every way... and he fully agrees with my decision. Digby is stuck inside on stall rest due to an injury that we're trying to heal. This requires lots of standing around doing nothing. He dislikes this. Greatly. He goes outside in a little paddock about the size of his stall for two hours a day to "clear his head." Also a dislike. It probably does nothing but give him the full opportunity to attack/jump on/play with whoever is near him. But I'm sure that part amuses him, as he plots the demise of whatever poor soul is leading him that day.

Now, I must be anthropomorphizing because he is a horse right? How could a horse possibly be plotting the demise of a human? Wrong. Very, very wrong. This may be the smartest horse ever. He learns and plots and plans his attack at the time where he's most likely to win whatever battle he's fighting. That said, Digs is a biiiit high maintenance. He demands my constant attention and gets irritated if I'm doing anything but doting (read: stuffing treats into his face) and confessing my undying love for him. The fact that he now no longer gets ridden or goes outside? This need for attention has tripled. So every day, I trot out to the barn to groom him and of course feed him whatever tasty snack I can wrangle up. I'm only allowed to groom him and give him some TLC but he seems to enjoy the company. Or maybe it's just the carrots.

A few days ago, Digby went to nudge me (apparently he did not approve of the particular grooming technique I had been doing... who knew currying was such a big deal?) and shoved the metal stall door instead, causing it to swing open slightly. Now the door isn't snapped closed because I'm in the stall with him and I'd be locking myself in and I don't use a halter because really, I'm too lazy to put it on and take it off when I'm done. It's not like he can escape, right? We're in a stall for god sake. I shut the door that was only open an inch or two and forgot about it. The next day, while I'm slaving away to make him super clean, he shoves the door with his nose again harder so it swings open about a foot. I yelled at him to knock it off and moved on. He stands quietly then does it again. I yelled again. He did it a third time this time even harder so the door practically flung open. I chuckled to myself, thinking how smart he was and what an excellent facebook status this would make for all those who didn't believe horses were smart because it was very apparent my outdoor loving horse had just figured out how to open his stall door and escape. The third day after his "discovery", I came armed and ready for his nose shoving plan. He stood perfectly still and seemed to say "who, me? I'd never do such a thing!" Ok, I thought... maybe he's not so smart. Cue dramatic music. Digby has been hiding some secrets in that forelock of his. He waited until I was on the side furthest from the door bending over brushing his hind leg and shoved the door so hard it flew into the wall. I yelped, ran and closed it with him nearly half way out the stall. He did this twice (both while I was furthest away from the door!) before I decided I needed to take action. Obviously, my horse is smarter than me.... I'll fix this, I thought as I tied his lead rope to the door and the stall. So I go back to grooming, la la la, thinking about whatever, and unbeknownst to me, Digby is very casually chewing on his lead rope, untying himself. I did manage to stop him before he got it completely untied and fling the door open but I fear this battle of Digby vs stall rest has only just begun.

I can only imagine what he's going to do next.