Introducing....

Stewart!

 

....At least, that's what we think his name is.

Did you ever have an animal who defied being named?

Or seemed to have a lot of names, none of them exactly it?

That'd be Stewart here.

We've seemed to settle on Stewart, it seems to be right for him.  Of course, many other names have seemed sort of right for him at different times, so anything could happen.  We've played with Nathan, Cai, Pod, Prince, and Ned.  Names that seem to fit him, then don't.

Anyway, I am VERY happy with Stewart.  He is a sweet and gentle soul, and not even a little smelly.  Of course, he's only 7 months old, so that helps.  I'm pretty sure his previous owners gave him a bath or something, because he actually smells really good.  He has beautiful bone structure, and he's as tall as Minerva and Lilly, who are a year old in two weeks.  He is skinny, though.  I'd put his BCS at a 1.5 or a low 2, so he needs to be fed and fed.  Although, who am I to talk?  Min and Lil I'd only put at a 2.5, and I'm not thrilled with that.  They all need to be fed.  Dulci, however, is kind of a fat sausage and a solid 3, by my book, so that's good.  I admit I hadn't expected that it would be tough to keep them in condition over the winter.  Now I know, I'll combat it a little better.

Yesterday's introductions did not go well.  He wanted to see the girls and maa'd like mad when he saw them, but they were not so thrilled.  After much sniffing and snuffing, they proceeded to beat the hell out of him.  He just ran.  That was really the problem.  Well, that and Minerva's one horn.  That was not so helpful, either.

Today we started differently.  After they would not allow him to sleep with them in their house last night, my husband and I knocked together a pallet-pen in the garage for him.  He is used to living alone, so he didn't seem to mind.  He went right in, and settled right down.  Watching the different breeds react to different situations has been really interesting.  When Min and Lil came home, it was like pulling teeth to trick them into going into their pens.  They STILL have to be coerced to go inside.  That may just be Alpines, though.  Dulci never had a problem going into her pen, and neither does Stewart.  He went in, and went to sleep.  This morning, I took him out after he'd had breakfast (and the girls had breakfast), and we did the dance again.

My little fat pink Dulci sausage!

I put their coats on, because it was really chilly this morning.  I was also hoping to kind of throw them off, and have them all disadvantaged by the weirdness.

That sock thing was my attempt to cover Min's horn.  It lasted maybe 20 minutes.  Maybe.

 As you can see, we've moved up in the world.  I have made GoatCoat 2.0, which is WAY more glamorous than 1.0.  They coordinate, which is super sexy.  I got one on Stewart, but it's not his.  It's actually Winter's but since she's not here and he is, he's borrowing it.

Lilly refused to wear her coat. 

The morning started off pretty well and the coats seemed to work.  The girls followed Stewart around and sniffed him and bumped him a little, but nothing major.

I stayed way out of the way.  My touching anyone makes everyone jealous, and then the fights get nasty.  I kept a big distance and just watched.  It lasted about an hour, then Stewart's coat fell off, and Minerva seemed to accept him.  That made Lilly mad. 

If Minerva is the queen (which she is), then Lilly is her Lieutenant.  They go together like butter and toast.  Lilly, I think, got jealous.  Then there was a lot of this:

 And this:

But happily, there was also a lot of this:

He fought back, which was great.  Yesterday he was just taking it, and I was worried.  Today he dished it out just as well.  So I let them go.

And Minerva watched,

And Minerva participated.  And you know who didn't?

 Dulcinea SausageLink.  Who stood right in front of me and didn't get in the way.  Smart girl.

Lilly and Stewart fought until her head got a red spot on it from the bumping.  The noise they made when they banged heads together was really something.  Then they got tired and decided to quit, so I got a treat, poured a bit in all their bowls, and shut the gate to their pen.  I watched them from time to time the rest of the day, and there was no fighting.

Stewart is sleeping in his bachelor pen tonight again, and he's exhausted.  The girls ran him off this evening after dinner, which seems to be the pattern.  They did go all day without another conflict, though, so that's progress.  He's happy in his pen, and he's wearing his borrowed coat, because tonight it's supposed to be in the single digits.  I also got everyone else's coats on them as well--even Lilly's, though it took two of us to do it.  I draw the line at letting them go without when it's that cold.  Yes, they all look glamorous.

We are working it out.  I take comfort in the fact that after this is ironed out, I'll have to do it again.

And then again. 

Whee!!