Category: Horses (Page 2 of 3)

Last month I had to break up the bromance between B and O.  B still doesn't like it but he's for the most part accepted the separation as part of his normal life.  Occasionally he'll leave his staring post (staring at O) and wander off into the big pasture by himself.  However, B doesn't like it if O wanders out of sight.  Commence whinnying.

Also, last month I had O train himself to load in the trailer by feeding his breakfast in there.  That worked pretty well except that O learned to turn around and let himself out rather than backing, which is safer when there's a person in the trailer with him.  Once O was comfortable loading himself I moved the trailer up front, then walked him up there to load.  He loaded just fine but didn't want to stay in the trailer.

This month I've tried several tactics to build duration in the trailer.  The first was loading unloading loading unloading loading then tying him in with his hay bag, shutting the divider and the door then let him hang out there for 4 minutes.  Repeat.  Seems like a good idea except he wasn't relaxing at all, just waiting for me to return.  So then I decided that having him stay in for 10 minutes would be better because it would give him time to get used to the idea.  Except it didn't so I thought that we'd have to repeat the 10 minutes until it was part of his life.

Except then I started hating trailer training.  So I perused trustworthy online sources #MaryKKitzmiller #ShawnaCorrinKorresch #MustangMaddy #HRN #StacyWestfall.  All of these trainers use either positive reinforcement or a combination of positive reinforcement and pressure and release and all of them helped me to a certain point with the loading part using positive reinforcement and target training.  O loves target training most of the time but it was when I listened to a July episode of Stacy Westfall's podcast about the importance of ground work that it finally dawned on me why O wasn't responding as expected.

In short, he didn't believe me when we left his familiar barnyard.  Up front, away from B and out of site of the barn we may as well be 100 miles away.  It's all new to him and he wanted to check it out on his own terms rather than listen to me tell him what he needed to be concerned about (me and the horse trailer).  He would sort of woodenly go through the motions of moving his feet when asked but was a bit defiant about backing up when asked.  And by defiant I mean that I asked and he tossed his head at me rather than moving his feet as requested.  Head tossing is the horsey version of sassing.

So then he got to work by trotting in circles, changing directions and doing a lot of backing up until I was satisfied that he was at least listening to that part.  Still, O would check out if we stopped for a moment.  I wanted to give him a moment to think about things but he turned his head away to focus on something behind him, left of him, right of him. This is the horsey version of checking FB or instagram instead of doing the task at hand.

What I learned from the Stacy Westfall podcast is that I had to be more interesting to him.  She suggested all kinds of ways to be more interesting: line dancing, jumping jacks, the can-can, etc.  So today we warmed up with some ground work, just moving in circles, moving out, moving in, stopping, backing up, target a flag.  He did good so we walked up front.  Every time he stopped paying attention to me I'd have him back up, move sideways until his attention was on me again.  We moved on to the target and positive reinforcement:  I hold out a flag, he touches it with his nose, he get a treat for doing that.   Or I point him toward a traffic cone and ask him to target it.  When he does, he gets a treat.

I moved the targets to the trailer and that's when he decided to check out and check FB instead.  I did a lot of jumping jacks, can-can until his attention was on me again.  Then I asked him to back up and come forward to me, get in the trailer, touch the target and back out.  Repeat.  We came to a good stopping point when I got him all the way in the trailer to touch the flag tied to the hay bag and eat a few bites of hay.  He started to back out but I asked him to come forward and he did without resisting my request.  That was a great place to stop and it's my impression that he believes me now.

B does a lot of yawning, licking and chewing when we return.  He's got a lot to process about O leaving and returning.

B is still not happy with O being in the adjacent but out-of-reach paddock to learn trailer training.  I've tried allowing them to be together then separating but B gets too aggressive (unacceptable and potentially dangerous) when I take O away so unfortunately potentially to B's detriment, they have to be separated permanently for now.  I realize this is a bit of an oxymoron (permanently for now) but it's the horse that drives these situations.  If B can show me he's comfortable with O in the adjacent paddock, I may allow a short time together in the future.  This togetherness appears to be for B's benefit as O seems to prefer his own space.

I certainly don't have all the answers myself so I "phoned" a couple friends on FB and received some "I hear ya", "following", and some great feedback.  It's a relief to know that I'm not the only one who has the bromance problem with my horses.  It makes me feel a little more competent.

One great piece of feedback came from positive reinforcement trainer Shawna Corrin Karrasch of On-Target Training.  She provided me with a link to this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CmWnGSUMF4&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2pJYWT8TsF2IbfG2KTG5dz0-BPT0Zigtx2D6trBm9Ks15OmmSe_9-qgiY, which is about 17 minutes long then I went out and tried a few things with B & O.

The good news is that B does take breaks from pining for O and will go eat his breakfast or dinner.  The bad news is that he spends a lot of time pining and pacing, which has resulted in a sore front hoof.  The first thing I noticed is that B gets alarmed slightly even when I approach O's stall.  So I asked O to back up so that B could still see him.  B calmed down.  Then I brought O out of the stall.  B whinnies.  I bring O out of the front of the barn and around the corner so that when B stops whinnying, I bring O into his few.  B calms down.  O and I do the hokey pokey based on whether B is whinnying or drops his head, licks and chews.  The latter behaviors are indications of calming.

I let O loose in the paddock so that he can continue his trailer loading lessons on his own.  Then I take the flag to B and invite him to target the flag.  He'd really rather stare at O to see if he goes anywhere but he likes this target game so he engages and gets rewarded after he touches the flag.  I invite him to touch the target in the direction facing away from O.  This is harder but he understands the game so after a while he touches the flag.  I leave him alone and he watches O get in the trailer.

Hard to see but O is in there eating lunch.  Such a good boy.  I have hope that B is going to feel better and am glad that I have access to knowledgeable and kind horse people through Horse Radio Network.

As a refresher, Odin the Mustang does not like the confines of the trailer or the rattly noise it makes when he gets in.  We've tried months and months of slow going but the result is always the same: he'd rather not, no thank you.  One day in the midst of my angst about his lack of willingness to accept the trailer as a benign thing, I heard a podcast hosted by Certified Horsemanship Association ExDir, Christie Landwehr, in which she said she trained one of her horses to load by serving all his meals in the trailer.

Generally trailer training can be positive reinforcement or pressure/release training.  This method is passive positive reinforcement: he gets in the trailer, his reward is as much hay as he wants.  Usually a bridge signal, like a click, is used so the horse knows that he got it right.  Maybe in this case the bridge signal is the rattle of the trailer.  Oh I hope so!

Someone recently told me they had trained their horse this way too.  My fabulous farrier confirmed the idea but warned that the trailer needs to be securely hitched to the truck or some other fixed object (like a tractor), otherwise trailers are too unstable for horses getting in and out.  I pass this information along just in case someone takes this idea and runs with it but forgets to attach the truck.

Beege the OTTB willingly gets in the trailer as the usual manner of taking it slowly worked for him.  Beege is a domestic horse and super eager to please.  Odin is not a domestic horse (or wasn't) and he decides if he wants to follow my leadership.  Most of the time he does because I think he regards me as a rather benign leader who provides food, water, scratches, and presents some rather interesting puzzles.  He doesn't understand why I want to pick up his feet or why I want to get on his back when traveling together on foot would be just fine with him but he's willing to accept these benign requests because they're not scary or uncomfortable.

The first night, I set up 4 hay bags along the length of the inside of the trailer.  He ate the first one.  Last night, I did the same thing but with less hay at the opening of the trailer.  He took a bite, rattled the divider, snorted and flew backward.  Oh honey, it's gonna be a long night for you isn't it?  But he went back, poked his head in the trailer and tried again.  He's a thinking horse.

By this morning Odin had eaten three of the four bags, leaving the one at the front of the trailer.  When I put in his breakfast bag at the third station near the front, he followed me in.  I asked him to back out so I could gather the empty bags and safely get out myself.  He did that then got right back in to eat his breakfast.  I would've taken a photo but it was still dark.  And that's the other thing, he doesn't mind the headlamp any more, which was an issue until he got used to it.

Beege has settled a bit with this new arrangement.  At least he's eating all of his feed but he still has to go out and check to see if Odin is still out there.  Odin's trailer training seems to be more difficult for Beege than it is Odin.  Yesterday after I let them hang out together for a few hours I tried to groom Beege but he was not having it.  He clearly is still mad at me for breaking up the bromance.  Odin doesn't care.  He let me groom him for as long as I wanted.

In a lot of ways Beege, the OTTB in the background, and I are alike.  We can both spend all night worrying and fretting over imagined disasters.  The reason Beege is worrying is because I'm breaking up the bromance so that I can take Odin the Mustang on trails, to clinics, etc.

To do that, we need to work  on trailer loading as he really does not like it and I don't like the struggle every time.  We have tried positive reinforcement: one foot in, click treat, two feet in click treat, three feet in, click treat, four feet in, click treat, four feet in and walk to the hay bag at the front of the trailer, click treat, ad nauseum.  Every time it's like starting over every time. It's better if I work on it several times a week but for various reasons I haven't been able to do that and I was hoping that all the work we did in June and July when I got them ready to move here would stick.  Nope!

I will get to the point about Beege in a minute just in case you thought I got lost on a tangent.

When O & B were at the last boarding place, O was terrified of low ceilings and closed spaces like barns.  Eventually he was okay eating under the eaves but for the most part he'd stand out in the rain if his food wasn't under shelter.  When they moved here, B was fine going in a stall to eat but I had to introduce the idea of a stall slowly to O.  I started by throwing his hay halfway to the stall for a couple days, then at the entrance of the stall, then I hung a hay bag just inside the stall so that he'd have to eat his hay with his head in the stall. Finally, I hung the hay bag at the front of the stall so he had to be entirely in the stall to eat.  That approach worked great with O and he's completely comfortable being in a stall, even in a stall with B.

The photo above is O having to eat his hay and grain with his head in the trailer.  The trailer is connected to my truck (mirrors pulled in and brake engaged).  The door is tied open and propped on a muck bucket filled with water.  The divider is also tied open but it rattles if anyone, including me, steps in the trailer or touches it.  O is noise sensitive so I want him to get used to the rattle and realize it's not going to hurt him.  Hence the hay bag is tied above the divider so that it rattle every time he grabs a bit of hay.

O is adjusting to this environment beautifully, which is a lot to say for a Mustang who has been out of the wild for less than 2 years.  He's a super sensible, thoughtful guy.  B, on the other hand, is very worried about O's location and spent the night pacing his paddock.  He ate a little hay, all of his grain, drank a small bucket of water.  Even though B can't see O when they're in stalls all night eating, this new arrangement has rattled his confidence in a big way.

I had planned to turn the truck and trailer around today so that it faced out but now I have to leave this configuration for at least another day so that B understands this is going to be okay before I change anything at all.  Tomorrow I have to turn the truck and trailer around, before it starts raining again because I don't want to get stuck in the turn around process.  Then B can have as much time as he needs to get used to O having the trailer as his stall.

Fall weather has been wonderful for the last couple weeks.  This dry spell was after a short but intense wet period that turned the paddocks into mud pits.  The pea gravel porches needed help so I put stall mats on top of the pea gravel and then the rain stopped.  The paddocks are still drying out.

I've been doing little things with the boys.  We've had company, I was out of town for a few days, and sometimes it feels like all I do with the horses is pick poop, feed and water them.  My Wednesday afternoons are a blessing.  Sometimes I do extra chores like spread a ton of lime on the upper pasture.  Then when the boys get curious and come up, I do liberty work with them.  Most of the time I ask Odin to come to the mounting block so I can get on bareback.  He's a good sport about it.  Odin is also pro at putting his front feet in the triangle, which is the start of the obstacle course.  He doesn't push the blue yoga ball very well or sidepass over a log but he has his skills.  Beege isn't very good about putting his front feet in the triangle but he loves to push the ball and is quite good at sidepassing over a log and even over the blue yoga ball.

Today I took Beege through his paces on the obstacle course and worked a bit harder at having him put his front feet in the triangle.  He also let me put the flag on the stick all over his body.  We went for a walk to the front yard.  He didn't seem to mind being away from Odin but he definitely looked at the construction project next door.  When we went back, we practiced with the mounting block even though I really don't have any intention of riding him.  Odin didn't mind at all being alone in the back pasture although he did walk up to greet us when I returned Beege to the pasture.  I gave them a few minutes to snuggle before I took Odin out.

Even though Beege had a great session with obstacles and I didn't overface him at all, he still voiced his objection when I took Odin to the cross-ties in the barn.  He ran around a bit, whinnied but stopped and hung out in his stall even before I finished grooming and saddling Odin.  I took Odin to the obstacle course, took him through his paces and got on.  He really doesn't like to move forward but once he knows I'm serious about it, he gets on with it.  We turned left and right, did small figure 8s in a flat open spot, trotted up the hill to the obstacle course a couple times, backed up, went forward then I dismounted.  One of these days I'm going to take him down the trail to the back of our property but I didn't have the right gates open.  Still, it was real riding, with a saddle and bridle.  Mostly I've ridden him with a saddle pad or bareback and bridleless.  And by riding I mean, I got on, went forward stopped and got off.  Today was a nice little refresher for both of us.  Turns out we're not too rusty!

Beege tells me he's not at all confident when he runs around and whinnies when I take Odin out.  How to help a horse with arthritis find confidence?  1) Routine: take Odin out as many days in a row possible, even if just for 15 minutes.  Beege will eventually understand that Odin is coming back and that he does survive separation.  2) Practice some skills that Beege is good at: targeting, friendly game, backing up, moving forward, changing direction, sidepass over a log in both direction (left to right needs more practice), weave around cones, turn on the haunches and forehand.

Recently I mentioned a book by British trainer, Vanessa Bee, also founder of obstacle competitions for horses.  Her books explain very simple training methods to keep you and horse safe plus do some fun exercises.  Because this farm is a horse farm turned to chicken/pig farm and back to horse farm, there are a bunch of things around that make great obstacles: logs, trees from which to hang flags, a grown over sand round pen space.  Plus I have cones given to me from another horse person.

Two logs set in parallel can make a chute to walk forward in then back out and/or side pass over, turn on the forehand, sidepass in both directions facing the other way, walk around the mounting block to the first flag attached to the snowmobile trailer, weave around the cones, then target the flag hanging from the tree, reverse, turn on the forehand then stop in a bare sandy spot that will eventually be designated with a hula hoop on the ground.  Visual cues are good.

Beege and I practiced this pattern three times, not perfectly but pretty good really.  He even let me touch him with the flag, which he usually regards as a dangerous firebrand that is going pierce him through the heart.  What I think is that taking him through a few exercises that give him confidence, teaches him that he can be confident about other obstacles. Then I tried to take him through the course at liberty.

He obliged me for a little while, it was a little sloppy but after we targeted the final flag in the tree we were supposed to turn on the forehand and stop on the sandy spot.  Nope.  He wanted to be with Odin again who was in an adjacent pasture.  We will work on longevity.  Perhaps a little clicker training with treats as a reward to keep him with me for a little longer.  

This afternoon I will work a bit with Odin, maybe get on him again with the bareback pad.

When you work full time it's easy to get stuck in the routine of horse care and skip any training except for the "be polite at feeding time" training.  And "move when I'm mucking your stall with a pitchfork" training.  Plus there are a million chores to do to convert former horse barn to chicken/pig barn back to horse barn.  Most recently I shoveled 3 yards of pea gravel to make "porches" for each entrance of the horses' stalls.  That took two weekends of back-breaking work.  Then we had gutters installed on the barn.  So much better for managing mud!

Recently I was able to change my work schedule so that I have Wednesday afternoons off.  This gives me time in the middle of the week, in the daylight to do some real training.  But I needed a goal.  Coincidentally my favorite trainer announced that she was planning an obstacle clinic later in October.  I'm very interested but October weekends are basically full with visitors, a farrier appointment, and a scheduled weekend at work.  Still, what would I need to be able to do to take one or both horses to obstacle training?

They need to be able to be separate from each other, they need to focus on me, go where I ask them to go, and trailer load.  The first step was separation.  At first I wasn't psychologically ready for Beege to run around like a freak when I took Odin out of sight, possibly hurt himself because he has arthritis and not enough sense to walk quietly, and I'm not super excited about tearing up part of the pasture.  I've seen what kind of muddy mess he can create.

What to do?  Phone a friend, who advised "pull your hair out and cry, then go fetal", which she admitted was no help whatsoever.  Except that it was super helpful to know that my reservations were not unique and that I'm not a complete failure for not knowing how to address this very common problem.  Some horses are fine left by themselves but most are not.  I'm not ready for a third horse to be a companion horse to my companion horse.  Eventually perhaps but for now, I shovel enough poop every day.

That afternoon I put on Big Girl pants, plugged in the electric fence and took Odin for a walk down the trail to the back of the property.  Predictably Beege galloped and whinnied.  Odin and I explored the bridge over the "salmon" stream (dry all summer), and looked at giant stumps then went back.  Beege finally took a breathe when we returned but then Odin and I went up the driveway toward the house to check out the blue tarp over the weed wagon.  Randy was just about to leave for a mountain bike ride but took a couple laps around the driveway so that Odin could see that bicycles aren't scary at all.  Then we went back to a lathered Beege.  Such relief when I let Odin back in the pasture.

The next day I repeated the journey with Odin.  Beege was sweaty but not lathered.  The following day I didn't have time to repeat the exercise so Beege got a day off from terror.  Yesterday I repeated the exercise.  Beege whinnied and paced but by the time we returned, he was still dry.  That, to me, is progress.  Real progress.

Feel free to follow my horses' progress on Instagram or Facebook, search for cmeqnomad.

I believe that the phrase 10-year old girl training can be attributed to Warwick Schiller, which I interpret to mean to uncomplicate training and be friends with your horse.  Braid dandelion flowers in his mane, tell him all your secrets, hug him around the neck, play chase or follow the leader.

To get into the spirit of 10-year old girl training I've been reading young adult equestrian fiction.  The themes are interesting but not necessarily complex and fairly light if you can get past bullying or abusive parents or dead parents, which all serve as a launching point.  Then the girl goes on to do amazing things with her horse(s) and frequently gets to spend all day with them.

As a 10-year old I didn't have my own horse or pony but I spent as much time as I could at a friend's house who had two Appaloosa mares.  All we wanted to do was ride.  Neither of us knew how to saddle or really bridle the horses so we improvised and used bailing twine on their halters.  Simple enough for 10-year old girls.  We spent move of our available time trying to catch two clever mares in a 40-acre field.  Sometimes they complied but often we resorted to bribery with a bucket of sweet feed.  Thinking back, sweet feed was a high value treat in exchange for occasionally being bothered by two small girls.  After all that, sometimes we'd curry the mud off the horses but most often we'd climb the nearest fence or stump and hop on.  Our jeans did the currying.  Then we'd ride for hours, through the neighbors' fields as long as we took care to close gates, and along a road up to the trails in the forest.  It was great fun and probably the most rewarding riding I've done in my whole life because none of it was work.  The goals were very simple: get on and go.

It's easy to get stuck on formal training procedures and setting goals that may or may not be realistic.  Some years ago I did the hunter/jumpers but honestly I hate showing.  It's very expensive and a lot of pressure.  Sure, I have saved a few ribbons but mostly I tossed the old ones in some long-ago move.  Also, I'm not really fond of riding indoors or in an arena.  My sport of choice would be foxhunting but that would mean some formal training, like trailer loading and hauling comfortably, riding in a group.  Daily training can feel like drudgery unless you throw in some 10-year old girl training.

Yesterday I did some formal training with both boys.  I groomed Beege in the cross ties and did some uphill/downhill and lateral work.  I also asked for walk, trot, canter.  I can tell that he doesn't really feel confident cantering so I asked for one stride then walk.  He seemed okay with that.  I brought Odin all the way into the barn, groomed him, then did fly spray training.  If he targeted the bottle he got a click and treat.  If he let me touch him with the bottle without moving, he got a click and treat.  If he let me spray him without moving, he got a click and treat.

I thought about doing the same training today because I'd likely be rewarded with a bit of forward progress but I didn't feel like it.  So I wondered what 10-year old me would do with two horses in a pasture.  Naturally I'd try to ride them bareback and bridleless.  There's a handy stump in the pasture that would serve as a mounting block:

Now how to convince them to come to me.  I'm a fan of clicker/positive reinforcement training so I grabbed the treat bag and my helmet (I'm smarter than 10-year old me) and the fly spray because I had a moment of inspiration where I thought I could show Odin via Beege that fly spray is very tolerable.

Neither horse showed any interest in my stump so I walked out with fly spray and asked Beege to target the bottle.  Click and treat.  Then I sprayed him a couple times (he's an old pro) click and treat.  Meanwhile Odin started wandering over because he heard the clicks and saw the treats.  I finished with Beege and started with Odin: target the bottle, click and treat.  Let me touch his shoulder with the bottle, click and treat.  Spray once without moving, click and treat.  And so on.  The hard part is convincing Beege that his turn is over and I'll get back to him but both boys are polite and will move away (temporarily) when asked. I was super pleased with Odin's response to fly spray with positive reinforcement.  Then I had to think of another exercise for Beege.  How about side pass?  He's pretty good going right to left but the opposite is harder so it's good that he has to work for reinforcement.

After those exercises, my original 10-year old girl plan came to fruition:  they followed me to the stump.  Beege almost lined up so that I could lean over him but not quite.  Next time I'll have a stick handy to tap his rump over to me.  Odin approached me straight on but isn't quite as willing as Beege.  Well boys, you have your 10-year old girl.  Expect dandelion flowers in your manes next time.

Beege is making great strides and next time, probably next weekend, I have a little time I'll saddle him.  He's easy on the ground, fine in the cross-ties inside the barn, fine with strange things like mowers, snowmobiles, camper, tarp shelter, etc.  He's a little rusty at backing over a small log pole and sidepassing but we'll get there.

Odin is doing well too.  Everytime I lament that we're not making any progress at all and I have a couple pasture pets rather than high-level athletes (ha!) I realize that everytime I do anything with him, we're making progress.  Each moment I spend is a little mini lesson.

When I brought Beege out of the pasture, Odin tried to block us from leaving.  It was an interesting little power play.  I asked him to back up and he did.  I appreciate him deferring leadership to me.

When I brought Odin out of the pasture, Beege ran around as if Odin was gone forever even though he was still in sight.  The first chore for Odin is to walk past the tarp shelter without bulging his shoulder toward me.  His second chore is to walk into the barn. 

Baby steps

Brave boy, even standing over the floor drain.  Beege is in the stall to Odin's right, which I'm sure helped Odin's confidence.  Odin nickered at Beege.  I've never heard him make a sound before.

He's not relaxed but he did stand there and let me groom him.  Behind him is a short hill that I ask both boys to back up to work on fitness, core strength.  Beege is surprisingly better at it although I couldn't say his topline or core are more developed than Odin's.

Being comfortable in the barn is a priority this summer, to prepare for vet and farrier work this winter.  I didn't try fly spray in the barn but saved that for outside.  He really doesn't like it and when he stops moving I stop bothering him with it.  The sprayer is silent so it's not the noise.  He just doesn't like the feeling of the spray over his body, and possibly the smell.

On week/work days I have a short amount of time to train and care for the horses so I keep exercises as short as possible and pick ones where success is almost certain.

On a previous training day, I asked Odin the Mustang to walk past the yellow tarp shelter that is near the paddock. He struggled so we spent some time on that until he seemed certain that it really wasn't a danger to him. Sometimes it's hard to tell at the time if he's relaxed or just giving up because he's tired of the repetition. The way to tell is whether there's any improvement the next time. And there was last night walking past the yellow tarp shelter so we approached the barn.

You might remember that Odin, having grown up on the range in eastern Oregon, is not a fan of the indoors so I'd like him to get comfortable in buildings especially when the rains come eventually. Odin wants to please but has a limit if he's worried. I used the approach-and-retreat method to getting close to the barn. We approached until his body language told me he was uncomfortable then just hang out or back up (retreat) a bit until he thought about it and relaxed. Beege kept walking in and out of the stall near the entrance of the barn and I could tell that Odin was sorting out how he saw Beege in the paddock, then disappear, then appear in the stall near the entrance of the barn. Ultimately, Odin wasn't willing to go into the barn but he did check out the mat in front of the barn and put his front feet on it. That's where the exercise ended for the day.

Beege the OTTB has been surprisingly willing to do everything I've asked recently. I was surprised over the weekend when he was willing to walk all the way to the front yard, out of Odin's sight. So when I put Odin back in the paddock, Beege came over and nearly shoved his nose in the halter indicating to me that he was ready to go and show me his courage. This time Odin didn't care and wandered off to the upper pasture, unlike the weekend when he ran around upset that Beege was not within touching distance but still within sight.

Beege walked all the into the barn, peered into the open door of the tackroom then marched to the end of the aisle and targeted the mower with following along, seeing where this might go. I expected him to worry about the mower rather than enthusiastically target it. In fact, I had to kind of strongly ask him to leave the mower alone as the battery was plugged into a charger and I imagined disastrous electric shock. Beege resisted leaving the mower alone, showing me that yes he was brave and would touch the mower all over the place. I asked him to back all the way back down the aisle, stand where the cross-ties are, and please check out the floor there. I groomed him superficially just to give him an idea that's where grooming will happen and asked him to back out of the barn. As a reward I let him graze the clover that is growing in my round pen area.

I very much appreciate Beege's enthusiasm and willingness to show off a little. He's developing a lot of confidence, which was severely lacking when I first got him. He's turning into quite a Teacher's Pet.