Roo almost seems like he is trying to see his new name plate by peeking out his stall door. It was actually hard to get this photo because he kept following me around the stall trying to make friends with the camera, which he does by sniffing and trying to mouth it. Eventually, he gave up, ignored me and tried to see what was added to his door again. The thing I like so much about Roo is that he is curious. Curious horses tend to spook less than those who are not. I already own a curious horse (well, two actually) and I've had nothing but very good days with them.
Roo has alot of new things besides his name plate: A new purple halter and lead rope, a new blanket, and a new way to wear his mane in the winter.
All of the recent posts are posted on the same day in order to catch everyone up with where we are to date. But in the future, we'll try to actually stick to what happened on that day.
Roo wore his new blanket for the first time overnight on Friday night. I laughed when I told the barn owner that if he still had it on in the morning I would be surprised. He seemed to want to grab the front of it and pull it over his head. But once back in his stall he just munched hay and ignored the blanket. This is his first blanket. The next morning I called to see how the blanket survived. It was still on him and perfectly situated in the morning. So looks like things are boding well for my not having to invest in blanket stock.
I put a little star on Roo's name plate that says "Laugh Often." It's a reminder that not only do I expect to have Roo make me laugh at his antics, but that I will need to laugh at some of my own mistakes and missteps as we proceed in his training. Horses can't be perfect all the time, so we shouldn't expect them to be. Today was a perfect reminder that laughter is often the best medicine...
Today I decided to work with Roo for a bit. I went to the barn at 2:00 and took some photos of him in the pasture with his newly made friends (Andy, Sin and Sam). Roo and Sam spotted me taking pictures and worked their way up to me. I slipped the halter and lead rope on Roo and walked him to the gate. All was proceeding quite well until Sin decided he missed him and ran up the pasture full throttle, bucking all the way. Roo thought this was great fun and forgot his human was still attached to his lead rope. He started to trot slowly at my side and then thought he might like to join Sin. I have another draft horse at home and I have long since learned two things about working with horses and lead ropes, especially young horses....(1) always wear a good pair of gloves with a good grip; and (2) don't try to hold a draft horse. I learned both of these things the hard way. I did have my gloves on, but figured the lead rope would be no worse for the wear taking another turn around the pasture attached to one happy rose gray Percheron, so I let him go. He ran off with Sin, bucking down the pasture. I walked slowly behind him figuring at some point he'd step on the lead rope and stop. Sure enough, he did step on it, and ground tied himself to the spot, trying to figure out which foot he would have to lift to get his head up again. I was there before he figured that out, stepped him off the rope, picked it up and this time, more prepared, walked him back up to the gate. We successfully made it through with no other bucking horse send offs, and I took him into the indoor arena.
I free lunged Roo who at first went all over the arena, but eventually confined himself to a smaller circle around me. I used a lariat rope as my only encouragement and my voice and a bit of clucking. He seems to know to whoa and turn into me, so he was taught that quite well already. We then did some in hand work, including some lead work and whoa, back up, and giving the shoulder. I affixed the lead rope to either side of his halter like a set of reins and used one side or the other to do some bending and lowering of the head. He gives the left shoulder quite well, but is reluctant to be easy about the right. We did end with him at least giving me one step to the right. His back up needed refreshing. But after three tries, he figured out what I wanted based on the voice command. I'm only asking for a step backwards right now and he's giving me two. We then did the STAND command. I encourage a horse to stand quietly while I face him and move a bit away from him still holding the lead rope. This is good for gate entry and exit, stall entry and exit and other situations where you want some space. He did great at this. So much so I incorporated it into leaving the arena (there is a gate to and from the opening of the arena) and he stood back quietly until I motioned him forward.
Roo is very smart.
Today I also pretend picked out his stall while he was in it making sure he did not try to run through the wheelbarrow at his door, and was not bothered by my working in his stall with the fork. He really wanted to eat the handle....LOLOL...
I've also put his blanket on both in the crossties and in his stall, just to see if he would stand quietly. We had a little bit of walking a circle, but again, it was more curiosity about a bird that landed just outside his window than walking away from the blanket donning.
Today I french plaited Roo's mane. He's not had this done and was not bad about it, but was a bit perplexed. In the end it all worked out and he was standing quietly in cross ties as I finished him off, but when we first began he really didn't want me to just hang onto his mane and do what I was doing. I just quietly did a plait, then encouraged him back into position, then did a plait again, then encouraged him back into position again. Soon he was just bored with me and figured I was going to keep pestering him to get back into position if he didn't stand there, so he heaved a sigh and stood quietly for the rest. I'm hoping to keep his long beautiful mane plaited throughout the winter so that it doesn't get damaged under his blanket and grows stronger until the spring.
Roo also has a beautiful full tail, which I will not touch until the spring. Be sure to check in for updates on Roo's training!
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