After two days of life on the ranch, Ace still isn't sure what to make of the horses.

There are three of them in the pasture behind our house in Lolo -- tenants like us -- that munch away on the grass all day.

Ace seems fascinated by their size, and by just what it is they are eating. Mostly he just sits and stares at them, and they at him, for minute upon minute.

Yesterday, he came almost nose-to-nose with one, stalking his way to the fenced in pasture, putting his nose between the fence rails and sniffing around.

The smallest of the three horses craned his neck down to sniff back. I figured that was close enough -- we'd been warned not to mess with the horses. Besides, they have an electric fence around them, and I'd hate to be the cause, or for Ace to be the cause, of them getting a jolt.

I held Ace a few feet back, and we watched the horse together.

I think he's intrigued by their size. Before this trip, the only horse he'd seen was one that pulled an Arabber produce cart in the city streets of Baltimore -- and that was from a block away.

Even more puzzling to him, though, is that they are obviously eating something that he is not getting to share in. When the small one walked away, Ace stuck his head through the rails again and shoved his muzzle through the grass the horse had been munching, as if he was searching for a jackpot.

Alas, there was only grass.