Mustang Saga

I finally got to play with the horses. It was low-key play, which is what I was after but also necessary for the ice. (Speaking of ice, want an adrenaline rush? Try coming down my driveway. In 4WD, no less, sliding the whole way, gaining speed, going into a fishtail, and finally thinking to take the foot off the brake, then settling back to normal just before either going off the side or hitting the power pole at the bottom. That'll wake you up.)

Tonka and Scout were encouraged to pick up their feet nicely and KEEP them up, whether it be in my hands, on my knee, on the stand, wherever. With Scout I used treats. If he picked his foot up nice he got a treat, if he kept it there a while he got a treat, if he pulled away he had to "take two" laps around me and try again. He didn't have to take two very many times. I'm not sure the treats were a good idea. We'll see. He was being a little annoying and they were actually a bit of a distraction. Maybe I'll try without them next time and see if he still behaves.

Tonka got the same treatment, but no treats, just lots of praise and scratches. He was a bit nervous in the beginning so I didn't start right away. Boogeymen in the grass, you know how it is when it's windy. Once we got started he only had to take two a couple times.

Problem is, they aren't usually all that bad for me to trim. They were awful for the lady who trimmed them last time. She's coming back soon and I want them to behave. Hopefully some preliminary work will help, and they won't just be good for me and not her. I should have started working on this a while ago but I didn't.

Then they got weight and height taped and wormed with Quest Plus. Scout is 850lbs & 14.2 hands. Tonka is 1200lbs and 15.3 hands. Not bad for a mustang.

I forgot to take pictures of either of them. But I remembered Cisco!
Isn't he adorable? He had no idea that he was coming in to get some nasty wormer.

But first - Look what I saw through the fence. It's not a good picture, but it's cute as heck. Liam was training Angus. He loves to have him get up on that table. (Angus is wearing one of the crude baby blankets I made for Scout.)
Back to Cisco.
We did some basic groundwork and we actually got along pretty well for once! All this time I've been thinking he was just plain hard-headed, but I think most of it is actually that he's sensitive and we haven't built up any trust between us. And then of course I wormed him, which I'm sure didn't help in the trust department. "I was good, and you do this to me?" But we did a bit more and I gave him a little hay before I left him. Hopefully the bad taste was gone by then.