Tango is a white horse who became an internet favourite in December 2018, when a member of his family, posting on Twitter as @mckellogs, shared a thread about getting him through a coming snowstorm. The problem was simple: Tango had a dry barn full of hay and kept choosing to stand out in the snow and rain instead. The family's answer was a new gate to shut him in, and the thread's photos of a horse who naps flat on his side, plays fetch and begs passing drivers for snacks were shared thousands of times.
Here is the thread in order, with notes on what each picture shows, followed by what horse experts say about why a horse might ignore a perfectly good barn and why lying flat is not the alarm sign it looks like.
The storm, the barn and the gate
The thread opened on 7 December 2018. the poster explained that their dad was building a gate so the horse (nicknamed the "HORF") could be kept in the barn during the snow, because otherwise he would lie down in it.
A TV weather graphic from that weekend shows a "snow and sleet potential" map for western and central North Carolina, with a foot or more forecast for the mountains and foothills. It set the scene for the family's worries.
Looking back at the previous winter, the poster pointed out that Tango had a dry, warm barn with hay and feed, yet he stood in the middle of the pasture anyway. The tweet compared him to the famous "This is fine" dog meme.
This is what that looked like: a snowy field and a white horse almost invisible against it. You have to look hard to spot him.
The same photo with a foam "number one" finger pointing to where Tango stands. His pale coat makes him a natural snow camouflage.
The horse who sleeps like he has fainted
The tweet that made many readers laugh: Tango lies right down to sleep, so people regularly knock on the family's door convinced he has died.
Here he is, flat out on the grass wearing a fly mask. Horses can doze standing up, but they need to lie down for deep REM sleep, usually for short spells.
Tango also plays fetch and brings his food bowl to the family when he thinks it is mealtime, which is why the thread kept comparing him to a dog.
Proof: Tango stands at the fence with his black rubber feed bowl in his mouth. Many horses learn that rattling or carrying a bucket gets a quick response.
He is also happy to carry sticks around the pasture. The family added an emoji to keep the photo family friendly.
According to the thread, a passer-by once came to the door just to say how pretty Tango is and became emotional about it. The family said they still do not know why everyone is so taken with him.
On 8 December the owner discovered that Google Street View had caught Tango lying in the field and looking, in the poster's words, very dead.
The Street View image itself, dated 2016, shows a white shape stretched out beside the fence. It is exactly the view passing drivers would get.
A few days later, more Street View pictures of Tango in the same pose turned up.
Three more captures of the same thing from different points along the road. He clearly has a favourite napping spot.
A short caption, "dead HORF", introduced yet another picture of him asleep.
Here Tango sprawls on his side in the summer grass in front of a red-brick house. Seeing a horse like this for the first time can be worrying, which explains the knocks on the door.
The family's solution, posted on 15 December, came courtesy of photo editing.
An edited sign beside the sleeping horse reads, "I am NOT dead, just tired and ugly, please let me sleep!!!" It became one of the most shared images from the thread.
Choosy eater, local celebrity
Another example of Tango ignoring the barn: looking straight at it, then deciding to stay in the pasture and get wet.
Wearing a rug in the rain, he stands alone by the fence while the barn sits empty out of shot.
After the dad raked up fresh grass clippings and tossed them inside the fence, Tango went straight for the bare grass on the other side of the netting.
Here he is reaching through the fence for the "better" grass. Horses are grazers and often prefer to choose their own forage.
The thread revealed that the poster's dad likes to make memes of himself and the horse.
One of them: Tango shouts "Daddy!" and the dad replies "Mule". It is a running joke about a horse who behaves more like a stubborn mule than a show pony.
The poster also shared a self-declared very favourite photo of the HORF.
Tango pulls a big goofy face at the camera, lips curled and teeth showing. Expressions like this are part of why the thread spread so widely.
Digging through older photos, the poster introduced Tango the "lucha libre star".
In a red hood with eye holes, Tango looks like a Mexican masked wrestler. Stretchy hoods and fly masks are normally used to keep insects or dirt off a horse's face.
Tango has also learned to carry his feed bucket across the pasture to the road to beg passing drivers for snacks, and, the family says, it works.
A pasture view with the foam finger marking Tango, his toy ball nearby. Toys like this are a common way to keep a lone horse busy.
A happy ending in the barn
On 11 December came the "HORF UPDATE": Tango was safely in the barn his dad built, thanks to the new gate.
Tango stands in his open-fronted shelter behind the metal gate, wearing a rug, with a painted "Tango" sign above the door.
In the last photo he leans his head over the gate. Dry, out of the wind and with hay to hand, he rode out the storm.
Why would a horse ignore a warm barn?
Tango is far from unusual. The University of Minnesota Extension notes that horses used to the cold often prefer to stay outdoors. In its figures, horses used shelter less than 10% of the time in mild weather, rising to as much as 62% during snow with strong wind. A thick winter coat traps warm air, and horses with access to shelter can cope with very low temperatures.
The real enemy is wet and wind, not cold alone. Rain mats down the coat and destroys its insulation, which is why a horse standing in sleet is at greater risk than one in dry snow. Extra hay helps too, because digesting forage produces body heat. That is the sensible thinking behind the family's gate.
Is a horse lying flat in a field in trouble?
Usually not. According to research summarised on Wikipedia, horses can rest standing thanks to a locking system in their legs called the stay apparatus, but they must lie down to reach REM sleep, typically for short periods every day or every few days. Some horses, like Tango, simply stretch out flat to do it.
Still, a horse that is down and will not get up when approached, keeps rolling, or seems distressed should be checked straight away by its owner and a vet. The neighbours who knocked on Tango's door were doing the right thing, even if the horse was only napping.
Sources: Original Twitter thread by @mckellogs, December 2018; Best Life: Hilarious horse named Tango goes viral; University of Minnesota Extension: Caring for your horse in winter; Wikipedia: Horse behavior. Photos: @mckellogs and family.
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