Stranger Danger

Grace has always come across as highly intelligent. To the extent I find that she is very capable of differentiating between individuals even if she barely knows them.

At the yard yesterday a really nice man 'offered' (ok was roped in) to have a brief chat while in her space yesterday. Grace completely ignored him. She recognised this man as 'safe' even though he drives the slightly alarming golf cart.

Once, when due to slightly odd circumstances Grace was in the last batch of horses to be brought in, she let a strange man lead her and made no fuss at all. (If I'd known I'd never have allowed it!) But this guy is a sweety - very quiet and quite shy - just as Grace likes them :-)

But last Saturday, she started having a significant panic. Calling out in distress and doing that jiggy tap dance/swinging about horses do when upset.

I couldn't figure it out - it was just another quiet Saturday, same as every other. So I tied Grace's friend up nearby - but Grace was still distressed. I feared another 'tying up' episode so I decided to put her and friend out, at least for a while.

On the way to the field with the pair of them we came across a man I have seen hit Grace in the past - August 09 I think. She has only met him just that once. It must have been the sound of his voice that alarmed her, because he was just chatting to someone. At the time of the panic attack he was out of sight, on a different yard and quite some distance away. Grace appears to have great hearing and a great memory.