Beetroot surprise!

Just back from a shift of yardwork. I kept Max in for the afternoon because I hadn't had much time to play with him before my shift and half wondered if I might do something else with him afterwards, but mostly, I just wanted to hang out with him for the afternoon, have him where I could see him and stop for a fuss every few minutes.

Before it all started though, I approached his box with chunks of carefully sliced beetroot from our big stash. He eyed it greedily as I approached, and snarfled down the first offering with gusto.

Next slice, yep, still great stuff! Next slice...

"I've had this before. Have you got anything else?"

"You like beetroot, Max!"

"Do I? Let me try another."

Slice offered.

"Ptoeey!" as he spit it out. "Bored with that now. What else ya got?"

What I've got is purple stained fingers from carefully slicing up beetroot, and a bunch of leftovers. They were, however, very gratefully received by another horse on the yard. I asked his owner if she'd ever tried it on her ned, and she hadn't, so we stood back and watched as he went into a little beetroot ecstasy trance on his first taste.

I still have a motherlode of beetroot to get through, and there's only so much borscht I can make, but I have an inkling that if Max remains less than keen, I can find some other neds willing to take up the banner for bright purple root vegetables, and help me out with the surplus.
We did try one other horse, the YO's mare, who was very eager until it was in her mouth, then acted like a kid being forcefed spinach, or any other yuck vegetable of choice.

"Ow! Bleurgh! What is this stuff?! It burns! It chokes! Why are you trying to poison me? I thought you liked me! Argh!"

We had to give her an apple bite to soothe her poor, assaulted tastebuds and restore her faith in us and her place in the world.