Here are Kachina's newly trimmed hooves. It looks like her left one could use more off the toe to make them even, but it could also be a camera/hoof angle. It's too wet in her pen right now (just rained last night) to really tell for sure.

Today, I spent time on her back feet. First I tossed the rope I was going to use all over her. She was pretty good about it. Then I looped it around her hind leg and used my stick to pull the ends toward me. She did very well with the rope around her leg, and also with me pulling on it to ask her to pick it up. I stood back near her hip with her head tipped toward me and I rubbed her hip and leg in between asking her to pick up her foot with the rope. Then I rubbed her with my hand all the way down to her hoof, then I asked her to pick her foot up with my hand. She was great. No freaking out at all. Next time I'll ask her to let me hold it up, then perhaps I can trim those back ones too!

I took these series of pictures after I was done working with her. She is definitely turning into an attractive horse. It's something to appreciate when their condition changes from being brushed and taken care of.







I didn't take any picture of Griffin today, but I did work with him. We made friends again today. He was even more comfortable with me back near his hip. I kept his head tipped toward me as I rubbed down his hip and his butt. He knocks his feed bucket off the panels everyday trying to itch his butt on it, so when I got to his butt with my hand, he was in heaven. I rubbed and scratched and scratched his tail and even his boy parts (briefly). He liked it. He turned his head even further toward me and trying to groom me, which I gently dissuaded. Then I asked him to lunge around me. I just spent time over and over asking him to go and them come back. It's the "go" part he doesn't quite know what I'm asking. I really really change my body lanquage to aggressive, and even then, he still is not sure he should go. He tries to stay facing me. We worked at that a while. He got it pretty well on his left side, but his right side needs a little more work.

Oh, and I actually dewormed both of them today! And both of them took it very well with no reaction other than the chewing and trying to spit it out afterward. I prepared them for it (stuck my finger in their mouth repeatedly, then put the dewormer tube in without dispensing the stuff), and they acted like it was no big deal. Even afterward, they let me put the dewormer tube back in their mouths with no fuss. Wish my tame horses took it that well. Well, actually, Cody and Chico do, but Catlow always has a fit. I do prepare her for it, but she still get's really mad at me for giving her the dewormer. She's a picky girl.

I procrastinated again! Today was the first time in another 2 days that I worked with the wild ones. I'd like to say I was busy, but really I have no excuse.

I worked with them both today and I played with Griffin first.

Today was the FIRST time that he stood and waited for me in the center of his pen! Usually he moves away and waits in the corner. Today he was in the center! I haltered him right away and he actually sort of tucked his nose to make it into the halter! Then I sprayed him down with fly spray (no jumping at all!). Then I wanted to brush his mane out for the first time, so I showed him the lotion (he smelled it really hard because it actually has a scent), and the brush (quick sniff with no concern), then I proceeded to rub lotion into his mane and forelock and brush it out. He was staying with me so well that after I'd brushed him out, I decided to see what I could touch with the brush in my hand. I found Griffin's itchy spot. The middle of his back. I was able to brush his back, sides, down to his knee on his foreleg, and down his hip to his tail, (with his head tipped toward me). He stood pretty well, and only got worried a few times, but he just backed up so that I was near his head when he couldn't take it anymore. When I hit his itchy spot, he turned his head and tried to groom me, but I just wiggled my arm until he quit trying. He was very with me today. I actually think that he was enjoying my company. It makes me trust him more and act more carefree with him when he is comfortable with me, which helps both of us relax. I also asked him to step toward me with a pull on the halter, and he was getting it pretty well. He's not leading really, but taking steps forward to sideways to pulls on the halter. He's not quite comfortable with me enough yet to officially lead around his pen because his pens is pretty small and that'd require that he be very close to me. Griffin is a very smart horse. Once he learns something, he's got it, and then the next time I work with him, he is even better than he was when I left off previously!

Kachina progresses well, but she's not quite as quick as Griffin. She's still flightier by nature and is likely to run first, think later.

With Kachina today, I haltered her pretty much right away, like always. Kachina does get a little worried when I step into the pen and pick up the halter, so I just stand relaxed in the middle, while she circles me once, then stops at my back. At that point, I just turn around, approach her, rub her face and halter her. Then she's good.

I brushed her whole body with the hairbrush down to her hind hocks. I didn't have as much time with her because it was getting dark, but I worked with picking up her front feet. I'm still leaving the back ones, but they are next. I progressed from just asking her to pick up her foot, to allowing me to hold it up for a bit, and then I went and got a hoof pick and was able to pick out both front feet! She stands very well. Her feet are in terrible shape. She definitely has bad thrush (it smelled awful!), and her hooves are so long. Tomorrow, I am going to try to trim her feet. Her sole is so overgrown too! Once I get her fronts trimmed up, then I will make her back feet a priority to work with. Wish me luck! I've never been the one that gave a wild horse her first trim before!

Today I found myself procrastinating again, but I did get working with them before it got too dark. But, because I procrastinated so long, I didn't work as long as I usually do, but I think that's okay.

Kachina was first. I haltered her right away and brushed her out with a regular old horse brush. She seemed to enjoy it, and I got down to the hocks on her back legs before I backed off...not because she was uncomfortable, but because I'm a big chicken. She was fine. I probably could have brushed all the way to her back hooves, but there's always tomorrow! Might as well not get my head kicked off today.

Then I played with her mouth and picked up her front feet briefly. She's getting better about it on her bad side and she's pretty good on her right side. She was a little sticky with leading today. She just wanted to stand there, but we got unstuck and moved around. I was going to work on her hind feet with a rope, but I decided that I really needed to get over and work with Griffin instead. So I spent time just standing by her head, kissing her on the face, and telling her how much I liked her too. She is so sweet. We whiffle noses all the time. I think the other thing I need to do with her now, is starting acting more crazy around her when I have her on the leadline. I need her to not freak out and want to fly away anytime I do something unusual. I don't tiptoe around her, for the most part, but if I trip, or jump, she does get worried.

I made a lot of progress with Griffin today. I was able to halter him right away without throwing the long rope onto him. I just approached him and let him check out the halter and lead rope for a while, then rubbed his face, and slipped it right on! He was very good. But he, of course, did have that distrustful eye turned on me. I tried to really take my time and give him a ton of breaks where I backed completely away from him and turned away to look at something other than him. It did seem to help, although I caught him trying to withdraw a couple of times while I was out letting him relax, so I jumped quick just to get his attention back on me. That seems to work. He flinches and then just looks at me.

Next, I just approached him, rubbed his face and neck and then walked away many many times. I want him to quit thinking about leaving when I approach. He's really good about respecting the pull on the halter, but I don't want to have to pull him back toward me. I want him to just stay. So we worked on that. And he did stay better by the end. Griffin is very uncomfortable with me anywhere but near his head, so I grabbed my stick and string and decided to touch him all over with that. He'd never seen the stick and string before and it's been a while since I've used the pole on him. He tensed up and flinched the first few times, but other than that was very okay with it. I just rubbed him with the stick first, then I progressed to tossing the string over his back. He's a very brave horse and isn't generally afraid of many things, just me! He calmed down very quickly with the string touching him all over.

Then I decided that I wanted to work on getting him to "lead" or at least give to the halter. He will give his nose, but I have to hold steady pressure for a long time before his feet will follow. I stood to his side and just pulled on the halter until he stepped one front foot toward me. We need to keep working on that. I thought it might help if I could get his feet freed up because he seems very sticky and spurty. When he gets worried, it's a sudden violent leap away, then he stops and looks at me again...which is good, but at the same time, I think he needs to not be so tense and able to move around me more comfortably. So I asked him to move away from me to lunge around his pen. This was very hard to do! He wanted to just stand there! I guess the desensitizing worked! I had to hiss at him and kick dirt at him, and swing my rope very violently to get him to move off (didn't want to hit him with it yet). Then I asked him to stop and face up. We did this many times until he would keep a steady pace instead of trying to stop and face me on his own all the time. I know it seems like a good thing that he wants to face me, but I feel like he is really stuck and NEEDS to move. I think that when he stands still too much, he's not all there with me.

He is definitely getting more comfortable with me rubbing his face though. I figure we'll build on that little by little! The last thing I did was rub him with my hands and try to get further back than his neck. He's okay with the neck and head, and only somewhat okay with the chest. I could rub his withers, and a little bit down his side, and his girth area, but when I got to his forearm, he was definitely not liking it! On his right side, he tucked his butt, sucked back against the fence and really thought about wheeling away from me showing his butt to protect himself! But, he just tucked his butt and really tensed up his body in an arc, showing me what he was about to do, and I backed up a step and rubbed his neck. I went to his forearm and then backed off several times until he quit tensing. Then we were okay. I need more control over his head with the halter before I progress any further back, and even though I can touch him down his legs with my stick, that doesn't mean that I can do it! We'll get there!

At this rate, we should be able to geld him very soon. I don't think the castration is going to do all that much for his personality though. This is who he is. Maybe he'll mellow out, but I don't see him as acting studdy. I see a very self protective horse. Testosterone may or may not exaggerate his self preservation instinct...I don't know. Anyone else have any experience with this? He's two years old. I've never seen him call to my other horses like a stallion does. He nickers to them when he sees them coming in from the pasture, just like any other horse friend would do when they have to stand in a pen all alone all day.

At the end, I slid his halter off, he was calm and I walked away. He stood and watched me as I climbed out over the panels very near him.

Procrastination

I gave the horses another 2 days off. I worked with them today. The time off was sort of intentional. But it was also kind of one of those things where when you feel intimidated or like you just aren't making much progress, you don't want to work on that thing. When I fed both horses on those two days off, they acted very flighty, and I was a little unmotivated after feeling like even though I got a halter on Griffin, he still really just doesn't want to be with me.

But after reading Arlene's post last night, I quit worrying about it and realized that they aren't going to progress at all if I keep coming up with other things to do beside working with them!

So, I got out there and worked with them today! I did Kachina first. I got her haltered pretty quickly today with the halter and leadrope, and she only freaked for one leap when I started to apply fly spray with the spray bottle, and then she stood stock still and didn't move another muscle! I got both sides, down all four legs, and up under her belly. I was very proud of her.

Then I brushed her whole body with my hair brush (she seemed itchy and appreciated it). I was able to brush over her hip and down her butt too. I decided that I needed to really work on getting near her back end today. While brushing her, I had her nose tipped toward me when I was at her butt, although she didn't seem to worry too much...a couple of times she did step away from me and back up so that she was facing me...that's how she feels most comfortable. Then I used my hand and began rubbing down her butt and touching her tail. That sort of worried her a bit, but I just backed off and working within what she was comfortable with and eventually, she was letting me scratch her tail bone and pull her tail out a little bit.

She has rubbed the hair off the head of her tail. She must have an itchy butt. She's definitely due for a worming, so to prepare her for that, I practiced sticking my finger in the corner of her mouth. She really didn't like that and jerked her head away, got a little huffy, and even tried to nip at me when I wouldn't let up. I just released her when she showed the slighted sign of just standing still, and in no time, I could pinch her muzzle softly and lift the corner of her mouth and she was tolerating it. I didn't try to stick my finger in her mouth quite yet.

I led her around the pen for a couple circles. She's leading pretty well. She gets a little bit sticky every once in a while, but she's pretty comfortable being close to me and her nose was touching me for most of the time that I led her around the pen. I'm okay with her being that close for now. I'm still trying to encourage to her be with me.

I also practiced backing her up (which she's getting pretty well from steady pressure on the halter), and dropping her head (this is taking more patience, but she is better at it if I wait till the end of the lesson and crouch down beside her when I ask).

Then I felt down her front legs and practiced picking them up. She's pretty good on her right side and I was able to hold her hoof up very briefly and then set it back down. On her left side, she tends to want to step away from me when I ask her to pick up her foot. But I am pleased that I can feel down her legs and she just stands and doesn't pick her feet up until I pull on her fetlock hair. I didn't get to her back feet, but I will. I'll use the rope first on her back feet. In preparation, I tossed the rope over her butt and let it wrap around her back legs. She was very calm today, and did not once lift a leg to things near her butt.

We had a very calm day. I didn't ask her to run around me and she wanted to be with me right away today. I think breaks do these horses good. I've never actually had them be worse after a break. They always seem better. They haven't forgotten things even though there has been almost a whole week sometimes!

It was the same with Griffin. I was running out of time for him (I was meeting my sister to pick raspberries again). I only had 20 minutes, but I was able to toss my long rope over him, spray him with fly spray (he too only jumped once and then calmly accepted being sprayed), and then halter him with a completely different halter that even had a lead rope attached. He was much calmer today and I was able to rub his face and halter him pretty much immediately! That's all that I did though. I just rubbed his face and neck for a while after I haltered him, then my sister arrived, so I let him go. He stood where I left him and did not even move away when I walked toward him and then climbed over the panels near him. I really shouldn't feel intimidated by progressing slowly with him. I just need to take it one step at a time and really think about those steps.

I think that right now, I just need to get him to allow me to halter him and work around his head. The working near his body, where he is very uncomfortable with me, will come later as he grows more comfortable with everything else.

Here is a conformation shot I took of Griffin the other day. I think he is really nicely built and he is also quite a tall horse (for being only 2). I know his hooves are long, but I'm working on it!