Here we see Dalton with his butt to Wrigley – and Wrigley eating Dalton’s breakfast. Missy Miss has turned her hind end to this drama. Mo is protecting Missy Miss. (Mo dislikes Dalton.)

Here Dalton is posturing and Wrigley is paying no attention.

Dalton sees me and comes over for help. “Get him OUT OF HERE, please.”

“He’s eating MY food!”

I tell Dalton to play with Wrigley and have some fun. Dalton doesn’t want to play with Wrigley. Now Missy Miss has turned around to watch. Mo stands behind her.

Wrigley and Dalton posture together, and they all run to the upper pasture (where I cannot close the gate). Here Dalton is begging me to get rid of Wrigley in his space.

Wrigley storms off and pouts on the far side of the pasture. I put hay in the feeders, hoping everyone will calm down and eat. Here you see Mo, Missy Miss and Wrigley at the far end.

But strong and confident Dalton runs back over to the first feeder with Mo (who really doesn’t like Dalton but he likes Dalton better than Wrigley…) and they all eat together.

Here you can see Dalton’s expression. He is upset that I didn’t remove Wrigley. Look at him scold me!

Wrigley cannot believe that everyone went to Dalton’s camp. He is very upset.

Then the threesome move off to the far side of the pasture, leaving Wrigley alone. He wasn’t invited.

Wrigley, humbled and crushed, begs me to put him back with Finn and Beautiful Girl. I did.

Wrigley back with his homie, Finn.

This huge trough was initially Dalton’s water source. It was only filled halfway so that I could dump and refresh it easily. He wouldn’t use it. I have no idea why. It must have smelled like plastic or something. Since he wouldn’t use it, I tried a different trough.

This was my next trial trough. It is lower and smaller, but had enough heft to get him through a summer day. … Dalton stood in it. He wouldn’t drink from it.

Then I gave him this different, mid-sized bucket. I figured he couldn’t stand it in, and it had enough volume to get through a summer day…. He kicked it until it came loose and then he rolled it around in the mud (hence it’s condition). I retied it daily for a week, and he did this every day. I think he wanted to cool down so he played in it.

Then I tried two smaller buckets, thinking that if he played in one, he’d still have the other. … I was wrong. He dumped them both, daily. I started to worry that he wasn’t getting enough water!

THEN, I saw Vivienne drinking out of the two buckets. UGH. I would hate dog slobber in my bucket, too. Maybe Vivienne has been drinking out of Dalton’s water for a while?! (Vivienne has lots of opportunities for water other than the horses’ water.)

I gave Vivienne a special bowl of fresh, drippy water – right outside of Dalton’s paddock, hoping to dissuade her.

I also got a hook-over bucket and filled it with water – to hook on the fence – and see if Dalton used it, or threw it off the fence as he does with his grain bucket (daily).

On the first day, he left the water bucket on the fence! He also drained it. So as I was refilling it, he bit through the hose and started playing with the water.

Now it has been a week and he has used his red water hook over bucket religiously – and has not flipped it off of the fence! And, he drains it almost daily. (I fill it at lunch and dinner). I’d like to get a bigger one, if they make them…

So it took a while, but Dalton finally got his point across. He doesn’t like Rubbermaid and he doesn’t like dog slobber. I get it! Finally! He wants fresh water, in a bucket not made by Rubbermaid, and up high enough that the dogs can’t use it. Got it.