It begins
Following the trial of hay crumbs.
Day 1
Opal was very curious about the goings on of the ranch. Her future herd
mate Ehawee was in a separate section of the green pens, they were
getting along great. Ehawee is about 14.2 hands tall, so Opal is the taller of the two.
As the day wore on, other horses were turned out.
Opal found a friend in Shaman, an Appaloosa gelding who is roughly 17 hands. He also happens to have a lovely mane and tail!
She was also very curious to greet the llamas, goats, sheep and see exactly what my daughter was doing in the pen next to her. She even took a nice afternoon roll in the soft sand.
Several times she approached me and sniffed my hand, followed me around, at a distance, seeing what I was doing. Eventually I broke up a flake of hay and left a trail of hay crumbs that would have her walk right to me.
After nearly a half hour of walking up to me and backing away, she took
the first of four bites of hay from my hand. It was a very good first
day.
Day 2
Opal was settling right into the swing of things. She would come close to those who stopped to pay her a visit, but wasn't ready to let just any one touch her, even with food. Today's session started by cleaning her pens, mostly because she's a pretty tidy mare, which makes it easy to pick up. She is a very curious girl and we (Marialaina Batoog and myself) noticed she wanted to check out the pitchfork. She nuzzled it, moved it with her lip, and followed it around her stall as I dragged it behind me. Opal was very willing to approach me and touched m several times, allowing me to pet her nose and front of her face. I was using a clicker to let her know when she was doing good, along with stepping back to release pressure and saying 'good girl'. The clicker and pressure release works great right now because she doesn't know what treats (carrots, apples, grain, ect.) are....yet ;)
Shaman and Opal.
She was also very curious to greet the llamas, goats, sheep and see exactly what my daughter was doing in the pen next to her. She even took a nice afternoon roll in the soft sand.
Several times she approached me and sniffed my hand, followed me around, at a distance, seeing what I was doing. Eventually I broke up a flake of hay and left a trail of hay crumbs that would have her walk right to me.
Mmmmmm, Food!
Day 2
Opal was settling right into the swing of things. She would come close to those who stopped to pay her a visit, but wasn't ready to let just any one touch her, even with food. Today's session started by cleaning her pens, mostly because she's a pretty tidy mare, which makes it easy to pick up. She is a very curious girl and we (Marialaina Batoog and myself) noticed she wanted to check out the pitchfork. She nuzzled it, moved it with her lip, and followed it around her stall as I dragged it behind me. Opal was very willing to approach me and touched m several times, allowing me to pet her nose and front of her face. I was using a clicker to let her know when she was doing good, along with stepping back to release pressure and saying 'good girl'. The clicker and pressure release works great right now because she doesn't know what treats (carrots, apples, grain, ect.) are....yet ;)
This isn't so bad.
Eventually we added in a PVC pole in the pen. The PVC pole (or bamboo pole) acts as an extension of my arm, allowing me to begin to touch her body from a safe distance. After I spent a few minutes moving and twirling it I touched her withers on her right side. Her skin twitched like there was a big horse fly on it and she moved forward. I did this a few more times then tried to get her to reverse direction. She was a bit resistant to go left, but was willing to walk up to the pole and touch it with her nose. She eventually let me rub her nose with it with no hesitation.
I finally got her turned so her left side was facing me and slowly touched her withers with the PVC. She was not a fan of that and cantered away from me with a snort. Apparently my girl is right handed. Once shes confident being touched on the right, I'll move my focus to the left. We did end the day with her touching the PVC pole with her nose and a nuzzle on my hand.
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