More pasture leading

On Sunday, we took Griffin out of his pen for the very first time EVER! I was quite leary about what to expect with him, since he is sort of stand-offish and aloof and still gets snorty when people do weird things. But, I worked with him first in the pen, and he's leading very well, much better than the last time (well, leading as best as you can try to get in a 24X24 ft pen). So, we attached a second leadrope to him, and lead him out! Of course, there was a huge hold up when he stalled at his gate. It took lots of backing up, trying over, and then finally, I backed him through his gate, since he was not gonna come forward. Then once he was through, we just stood there in the opening, and took it all in. Then, we set off on our walk. The first 100ft, I felt like I had to pull him quite a bit, but after that, he really loosened up and followed. He was quite alert, but was very calm for this being his first time out. And, he was more than happy to just follow along behind me. He never once spooked or tried to bolt away from me. I never would have expected that. Next time I take him out, I want to try to be more abrupt with him and make him uncomfortable on purpose...just to get a spook out of him. I like it when they at least try a spook, and see that they are attached to me and can't get away. It seems like if they try it right away, then they really don't realize that they could possible get away, so they respect the rope more.

After our walk, he was very calm with me. I almost feel like it gave him a new perspective of me. I plan to make this a regular thing and soon I will take him for long walks outside of the pasture even! I think it will really make him trust me. Griffin has a very sensible nature. He was very calm and seems to think through things before he reacts. His first reaction to something he's uncomfortable with seems to be to stop and think about it, where as Kachina's is, LET'S BOLT NOW!!!! WE CAN LOOK AT IT LATER!!

Then we took Kachina for her second walk along the fenceline. She was very good this time...no spooking at all. I like that she's getting more comfortable. If it hadn't been Sunday afternoon when I finally got around to working with her, I would have turned her loose with Cody, and then played it by ear...but Sunday only a couple hours from darkness...I figured that was a potential recipe for disaster.

But here are some pictures of the furry puny princess (whom I think has grown a little bit!). I didn't take any pictures of Griffin this time because I was too busy watching him. I wasn't sure what to expect with him.