Riley's room with a view

Riley, Harv, and most of the other horses at the barn have a window to the outside, louvered glass protected by metal bars on the inside. The barn is many years old, and no horse has disturbed the windows. Till Ri-Ri.

A few weeks ago I noticed one of the louvered pieces was missing from Ri's window. Odd, I thought, till I found the broken piece outside the barn under the window. Ri can, and does, poke his nose through the bars. Wonderful.

Week two. Louvered piece number two breaks. Now it is easy for Ri to get his entire nose under the remaininging strips of glass. I'm mucking and make a note to remove the remaining glass pieces which are beveled but still sharp on the edges. I move to the next stall and as I go out to dump the barrel a half hour later, Riley reaches out over his dutch door to nudge me -- a swath of hair is scraped off his nose to the pink skin. Louver #3 is missing. presumed to be lying broken outside the barn.

I remove the remaining pieces and hide them (there is NO good place to store glass pieces at a barn). It was great fun to inform the barn handyman--who has just installed a length of wood along the top of Riley's stall to prevent him from harassing horses in the cross ties--of Riley's new behavior.

I offered to pay for the damage. No one has taken me up on it so far.

Riley needs a hobby.