FUN!

Well the following photos are going to show you how much fun teaching little (and big) critters can be! But first, a little recap before Rusty's photos ... remember, when he came in even the tiniest whisper of snowflakes blowing in his face scared the willies out of him. We couldn't go in the stall without him flying to the corner and turning his butt in defense. We couldn't pull our hands out of our pockets at a normal rate of speed/action because he'd fly away in panic. Nor could we approach him as in a normal course of events - we'd have to allow him to approach us with lots of encouragement. Well, that lasted for just a day or two. Remember the story about the chickens bustling on the other side of the fence and how he scampered away in fright? Well, now he guards their eggs and the sitting hen in the corner of his stall with no qualms at all. *grin* He's very careful to NOT step on an egg that has rolled from the nest and now I'm battling chicken poo on the edge of the stall walls cause they LOVE to roost right above Rusty's head! Yuk! Blechhhhhh! G-R-O-S-S!!! (I'd rather scoop pony poop than clean chicken poo anytime!)

Rusty has lots of visitors now ... he is the FIRST to be introduced to new people and other critters. He's gotten VERY curious and quite brave! If we forget to intro him to someone then he loudly lets us know by whinneying very loudly as a reminder that HE comes FIRST!

I also forgot to mention previously that Rusty is getting used to the chain saw, trees falling, 4-wheelers (next door) and more big, gigantic scary stuff!

Today's lesson included a blue tarp, a maraca and a pre-school tricycle without a little human on it. First we started with the tarp ... made it small and let Rusty investigate on his own when I asked him to target it. I then unfolded it and "grew it bigger". I eventually was able to rub the smaller sized (folded) tarp all over his body and he stook quite still in acceptance. He didn't quite like it when it was unfolded, full size and near him, tho, as in the picture of the grey horse with
the tarp drapped over her head. (Note: just a few years ago this mare's nickname was "killer" ... with good reason! Now, look at her. Even endures the most embarrassing pranks!)Then I targeted the maraca with him and then the tricycle. And then, we put the maraca on the open tarp on the ground and asked him to target it. Then added the tricycle! (see the photo at the top of the page). All of this was in a 1/2 hour time span. The last was to ask him to walk by the tricycle to get into his stall for supper. He marched right in, targeting it on the way and never blinked an eyelash! Today I'm going to do some situational teaching with him so he can learn to be brave regardless of the situation and what's around him. This is in contrast to yesterday's work where he focused on 'objects' and not 'situation'. I'll let y'all know how he does!

The photo to the left shows the same exercise being done with my 3 year old PMU filly. (Her "guardian", Dorian is 23 year old OTTB who is a HUGE wuss but was quite brave with all the "stuff" going on yesterday.) BTW ... this "little" filly is just turning 3 and is almost as tall as Dorian who stands 16.3 hh! Methinks I have a little filly giant on my hands! :)

All in all it was a wonderful day. Thank God for the sunshine and warm air! It's about time!
Post note: Wanted to add that the photos you see have the horses and pony unrestrained. This is how I like to work with them. It gives them choices to make ... Also, wanted to point out that they are touching their noses to the objects as I've requested with the cue word, "Rusty, Touch!" or "Tammy, Touch!" So, the horses learn english vocabulary during their lessons as well as physical cues. It is reported that studies have shown Equine can learn up to or more than 200 words! Of course, I think they're even smarter than that and believe the "teachers" ran out of vocab words for them! hahahaha.

What a gorgeous day today is! The sun is high in the sky and the air is warm. Promises of warmer days to come. Misty and Tammy were enjoying a midday nap until I went out to shoot photos of them! Then they both woke up. It was nice to see the two lying down together. Misty usually, being the "alpha" doesn't allow anyone to get too close to her except Bub, the ole man you see standing "guard". Misty and Tammy are usually bickering and arguing about some deep issues but today, they both agreed - it's a good day for a nap.

Of course, Misty placed herself too close to the barn wall to have a good roll for herself but Tammy didn't think twice. A wonderful smudge in the dirt and up she got to see if I was bearing food gifts along with my camera.

Here the whole gang is just hangin' out.

While Crackers and Cider just kind of wonder what's going on and beg to have THEIR pictures taken, too! Will get Rusty, Amahl and the rest of the gang later ...

Yesterday we stepped up Rusty's play and training a bit. He has finally come to the point where he's "shy" but not overreactive to strangers and new objects. Thus, Rusty met the pool noodle yesterday! A bright, lime green noodle that is longer than he is (but certainly not as wide!)

I had worked with Tammy for a bit already with Rusty intently watching from his paddock. So he had already seen Tammy accept the noodle and the hula-hoop that makes all sorts of funny noise! There were also new people around yesterday who had, of course, been introduced to Rusty and he accepted all with curious sniffs and just a wee wiggle of the lips on the hands to see how they tasted. No teeth and no indications of using the teeth. He allowed his head to be scruffled and his withers to be scritched by strangers! What a good pony! :) He was curious about the pool noodle at first but his first instinct was to back away. But then I asked him to "touch" and he tentatively came up and, quick as a wink, touched it with his nose then backed up a step! Cutie pie! He got his alfalfa pellet for a reward for being so brave. At the end of maybe 4 or 5 minutes I was scratching his head, his rump, his belly, his legs all over with the noodle while he stood quietly and calmly. The end of this session culminated with me waving the noodle around him wildly and bumping it off his back. What a brave little troll he is! He got a small handful of alfalfa pellets for that and a big hug! Today, we'll introduce the tambourine and umbrella! One at a time. Hopefully, I can get someone to take some photos while we do this today! Then I'll post them here.