Been busy enough past few days, but such good progress has been made. We entertained my parents and one of my dear friends over the weekend and spent lots of time taking photos and giving treats and pats and all the like. Progress really came to a head today, and I'm simply going to copy and paste chunks of the e-mail I just sent to Deb from Passion Horse. After shamelessly plugging some photos my mother took this past Saturday, of course, of Pax and MollyMare.
Hi, Debra and Co.,
Although I haven't yet constructed a "success story" or adoption tale yet, I did want to send you a couple of pictures and let you know how well Pax is doing.
After watching her figure out how to break into the feed and tack rooms (we were present and she didn't eat anything or get in trouble, don't worry!) and getting her to eat out of our hands, in our laps, out of our pockets, etc., with lots of pats and mane-braiding and removing most of the cockleburrs out of her forelock, we decided to make the step to get her in a halter today. It went incredibly smoothly. I haven't worked with hundreds of colts but enough to realize what a great head she has on her shoulders.
Richard taught her in about twenty minutes how to lower her head through the nose piece to get to her grain bucket. After repeating that a dozen or more times, he began flipping the final rope over her ears.. Lots of repetition, and lots of doling out her mash a tiny bit at a time. Once she was alright with that, he tied it and we allowed her to back up from the pressure and feel the weight of the halter and rope. She dragged the stiff lead for a few minutes while we watched, releasing to the pressure every time. I picked the rope up again and allowed her to move against it to a point, slowly asking her for to at least lean her weight towards me, then take one step, then two, etc. etc. Within the hour, she was walking behind me without stopping more than every twenty or thirty steps. We swapped and Richard did the same. She's a bit more resistant to him, but he was definitely quicker to teach her to drop her head into the halter, so surprisingly we seem to be an okay team!
I know it's luck that we work where we ride, so we have hours a day to spend with this little girl. I know without a doubt most horse owners are simply not so lucky to have that kind of freedom, but it's been wonderful to be able to achieve so much trust in a matter of days. Having her walk up to the fence to greet us with a whinny is pretty incredible, and watching the gears turn as she learns minute by minute is so very exciting. Obviously she had a good experience before we got our hands on her and she is proving to be as smart as you'd suggested!
