Oh, isn't he too cute? I've never had one of these itty bitty ones. Just my Percheron Toby at not quite two, and itty bitty are not words that would ever be used to describe The Big Boy. Last spring, our neighbor had five of these in the pasture next door along with their big mommas. So I spent a lot of time making friends with the mommas, and then they let me play with their babies.

From The Home of Two of Jonah's Military Guys. My point is - we treat the critters as family, not as objects. And they respond to that. In ways that clearly are not related solely to food.

More starkly is how that manifests itself with the horses. Our horses come when we call. Whether there's food involved or not (they come *much* quicker when they know there's food involved, you betcha!). But they come on their own volition. Our horses, in a horsey way, like us.