Progress

Indy-Pants spent some of the afternoon on Monday handled and tied and in and out of the arena / tacking area. He was well-behaved, save for a little pawing at the start of his tying. (I tend to dismiss this the first times by just giving him no attention; this was enough discipline for him to quit within a few minutes and fall asleep. If he'd been at it for longer or if we were farther along in his schooling, I get a little more aggressive about it. He did pretty much the same thing in the trailer and quit in short order.) Richard was down at the barn again, picking up feet and working on his farrier's stance —did I mention he was planning to go to school for it? He asked to work with Indy's feet again, while I watched. He had handled all four feet the day prior, without asking for anything but Indigo to stand reasonably for the process. But this time around, without a lot of fuss, he had both of Indy's front feet picked up and held for several long seconds, a couple of times, until the process was relatively smooth. He started to work on the back feet, but I asked him to wait until the pony is totally convinced we aren't going to rip off a hoof or anything. I like to think I'm pretty good at getting a horse to be quiet about their feet, and Pax wasn't too hard to teach, though she regressed a little, but I was fully expecting feet manners to be really, really difficult with a wild horse. Thank goodness sometimes that Richard is braver and ready to take steps faster than I am. (Note I said, sometimes.)

Today, we worked on feet again and he was very willing for me to pick them up, pull into a normal stance underneath him, and even stretch out in front of him like I do to warm up my riding mounts. Haven't started the backs yet, but we've started walking and working behind Indigo without any threat from him. I'll give it a little time.

I also worked on moving his hindquarters and forehand independently on the ground. I started just asking him to move his hindquarters away by swinging the slack end of the lead, which went pretty well, and then swapped to using my hands above his stifle to push his butt around and on his shoulder to move his front. The hind end was easier, as I think it often is, but after a couple of minutes we could move all four quadrants with a decent amount of pressure. He is certainly very bright and catches on to exercises and requests easily, but he isn't dramatically reactive unless you totally catch him off guard— which is hard to do. The other day I threw his hay over the fence and while he was scooting to eat it, I reached through the paneling and touched his rear. He flew sideways, gave me his crazy wide-eyed-why-the-heck look, and stayed pointedly out of hand's reach. But I find if you give him just a second to prepare for a request, he's very compliant.

New halter came in today, finally! I ordered it from The Stick Lady weeks and weeks ago, but she does make everything by hand. Very impressed with the quality— if I could afford to have every camp horse in a well-knotted halter and a yacht rope lead, I would. Lindsay, Bonnie's "mom," suggested her. I am very conflicted over what is considered the Natural Horsemanship industry, partially because I think in many cases, merchandise is stressed over relationships and patience. I think a horse should respond in a crusty old Hamilton nylon turnout halter just as well as they do in a fancy-dancy Clinton Anderson Endorsed $90 ensamble, but I do see the value in a great halter and the benefit good balance, particular knots, and better materials. That said, my NH-entrepreneur of choice is Monty Roberts, and his crap is hella expensive too, up there with Parelli and Clinton and Brannaman. ANYWAY, I don't want to get into a diatribe; I'm slowly making my way through the first couple sets of Parelli tapes, and I don't think there's a single person out there who has re-written the humane horsemanship bible. I like to read everything I can get my hands on and take what I like and leave what I don't. And this Stick Lady makes a mean rope halter at a better price. I recommend!