Figuring Out Faran - Added Video!

The more we work with Faran the more I think he might be an even tougher cookie to figure out than Zeppelin was. In the whole scheme of things Zep isn't that difficult. He wasn't handled during his first two to three years so he was afraid of humans. That's one thing, but Faran I'm really starting to think was either abused or at the very least mishandled . . . this makes things more difficult in the long run because there are eleven years of experiences we know nothing about. We are only now starting to learn his triggers, such as he's deathly afraid of whips (if you reach down to pick it up off the ground he bolts, or even if you're sitting next to the whip and move it a quarter of an inch on the ground he's gone) and that he strongly dislikes round pens. If he feels trapped he's too anxious to concentrate and learn.

Therefore we have decided that from now on we'll put Chrome and Zep in the round pen and work with Faran outside of it. I really want him to learn to work and trust us at liberty so I think he will be more comfortable in the pasture where he knows he can get away if he's scared. In the round pen I think he spends the entire time waiting for someone to chase him with a whip. His whole demeanor makes me so sad.

We worked on him picking up his hooves and it went okay, but you could tell his heart wasn't in it. He was anxious the whole time. We'll try again tomorrow outside of the round pen and see how he does. :)

I wasn't going to post the video from tonight because it was getting late so it's dark and grainy and I'm tired so I sound . . . err not nice lol. However a new follower pointed out how helpful they can be and I think this one might have some helpful stuff in it. It also gives you a clearer idea of how skittish Faran is. He was worse today than he's been in a while and I'm wondering if something happened with a neighbor or something. We will just have to be patient and work through it. It's late and I'm half asleep so I hope everything is spelled right and looks good hehe. Let me know what you think.