.....the escape artist

So then what happened? For a second or two, nothing. Then Blue advanced on Oscar like Pavarotti (god rest him) on a bottle of moet and a victoria sponge. Oscar visibly quailed. he is not by nature a confrontational horse and were he human I am convinced he would have been a conscientious objector. His tactic in the stand off was again genius (he's a clever little thing despite the mothers constant derision) he simply turned his back and ignored Blue. In fact he was by far the more mature of the two throughout the entire episode, with Blue leaping around like he was under the influence of narcotics, biting at Oscars rug, leaping all four feet off the ground (one of his party tricks) kicking out, snorting and squealing at him. Oscar calmly ate with his back to Blue as if he wasn't there. Sadly for Blue however (and I will guiltily admit that he deserves no sympathy) he had to push it too far. He took a massive bite of Oscars bum (too much for anyone to take I would have thought) and then lunged down at his face where he was eating. The timid little hairy one unleashed the tiger and like a deadly assassin cracked Blue full on the cheekbone with his hind foot. It was like children at playschool, with the harasser suddenly receiving a taste of his own bitter medicine and Blue backed away with a deeply reproachful look on his handsome face. For around 40 seconds. Then naturally he launched another attack, so it was safe to assume he wasn't mortally wounded. And so it went on, for around 6 weeks! they settled into a routine of Blue constantly badgering Oscar, Oscar ignoring him and going about his business in a quiet, restrained manner until Blue pushed it too far and received his punishment. Not only is it unusual for such bickering to continue for a sustained period, but the odds on a 2 year old, woolly cob disciplining a 13 year old lump of glistening thoroughbred muscle are slim to say the least. Part of the reason for that was probably that they didn't actually spend a great deal of time in each others company due to Oscar making like Houdini and breaking out every 15 minutes. Blue, being one of life's conformists tended to stand wistfully at the hole in the fence where Oscar had broken through (he soon dispensed with lifting it up and simply took to walking through it) not daring to cross the abyss into bad behaviour (not that that was an issue that usually plagued his conscience). Thankfully, their enclosure was a field within a field to keep them away from barbed wire, and Oscar seemed content just to be on the 10 inches of land that surrounded the 3 acres that was clearly disgustingly unsuitable to his mind and therefore never strayed far.