Rocky Ride 2 (with us)

Hubby rode Rocky out on the road for the first time today.  We ordered a synthetic (has to be light for hubby) western saddle and a halter/bridle which came in today so we were testing them out.  The halter/bridle needs some adjustments (we took the noseband off because it was too small, but I'll fix it tomorrow), but the saddle appears to work well for both of them.  I'll do more checking tomorrow when the mosquitoes aren't so bad.  Rocky was very good on the road.  He's awesome with traffic, but he did neigh for Chrome a few times and he's totally buddy sour (but I knew that before I brought him home).  I can't wait to take them out together to see how they feed off of each other out on the trail (road).  Anyway I'm really tired so I'll just share the pictures for now.  I'll share better ones of the bridle tomorrow once we have it fitting right.

 He was pooping, not flipping his tail like Chrome lol.  He's so handsome!

 He was listening for Chrome the whole time.

 Great with vehicles.

 I caught him mid-neigh hehe.  So cute!

 I waited at the driveway while he took him the opposite direction

 (because he wanted to turn in the driveway on his own).

 On the way back.  Ignore the price tag under his browband hehe.

I didn't want to take it off until I was sure we were keeping it.

 Chrome neighed a lot, but I don't think he was a nutcase or anything.

He wasn't super sweaty or anything when we got back so that's good.

He was standing at the gate as we came down the driveway.

By the time we untacked and led Rocky to the pasture Chrome

was grazing on the other side of the round pen.  :D

Last picture is just because I love my boy's neck hehe!

P.S. I almost forgot to mention.  Rocky is doing great with feeding time manners!!  He barely pins his ears at Chrome now and follows us politely.  No charging or aggression.  He lets us smack horseflies off of him while he eats.  He lets us approach him anywhere in the pasture and smack flies without a halter or rope.  He even came to me for the first time and asked me to kill the flies.  :D  Good boy!!!!

Rocky Improves

Rocky did excellent today for feeding!!  Hubby carried the whip and Rocky's bucket and I carried Zep's bucket and the scoop with Chrome's feed.  I walked in first and started opening the round pen.  Rocky came up next to me, very polite, very calm, ears forward, hoping I would feed him.  Chrome wouldn't come anywhere near us, so I asked hubby to lead Rocky away and feed him.  Hubby walked off and shook the feed but Rocky stayed by me so I gently shooed him away.  Hubby put his pan down at a good distance from the round pen and Rocky wouldn't approach until hubby turned and walked away.  Chrome high tailed it around Rocky and came to me.  I fed him and locked him in the round pen, then went to feed the donkey.  The goats are horrible about stealing Zep's food so I have to chase them away, but of course that scares him too because he's so skittish.  Eventually the goats give up and stand on the hill, then Zep comes back to me and eats out of his bucket.  It's all so complicated!!  I wish we had a barn with stalls sometimes.

So then I walked back over to Rocky.  He wasn't letting hubby near him because he knew hubby had the whip, so I tried approaching him.  He acted like he was going to run off, but I was slow and relaxed and he continued eating while I scratched him all over and shooed flies.  Then he let hubby approach (after he put the whip down).  So we stood one on each side and pet him all over while he ate.  :)

When Chrome finished I let him out.  The goats tried to steal Zep's food again because I got too far away, but he was done anyway so it didn't matter.  We grabbed all of the buckets and walked to the gate.  Chrome of course followed us, then Rocky followed us.  I stopped next to Chrome while hubby opened the gate and Rocky walked up behind me and put his nose on my shoulder!  So cute!  We pet him some more and then left.  Once we were outside the pasture Rocky pinned his ears at Chrome and he ran off.  I don't mind Rocky being the boss over Chrome, I just don't want him charging him and I don't want him threatening Chrome when we're nearby.  Politely pinning his ears to make Chrome move once we are outside the pasture is okay.  I knew from the beginning that Rocky would probably be in charge.  I'm pleased with the progress he's made!  I knew Rocky would figure it out quickly.  He never once pinned his ears at us or acted aggressive and I'm very happy he waited until we were outside the pasture before he chased Chrome away.  Yay!

Hubby Feeds Rocky

Tonight I let hubby feed Rocky (I put Chrome in the round pen to eat and then fed Zep when Rocky was busy).  Hubby had the whip and kept Rocky away from him while the feed was in his hands.  He set the bucket down and then faced it.  Rocky immediately went for the bucket so hubby ran him off.  When Rocky stood still at a decent distance hubby turned and walked away.  He then repeated what I did yesterday... let him eat, move him away, let him eat, move him away, etc.  The second time he moved him away the little brat trotted around hubby and me and tried to go for Zep's food so I chased him off.  From that point on I body blocked him from getting to Zep if he decided to go off in the pasture away from hubby.

After he was done eating we picked the buckets up.  Then we tried approaching him (without apples) and he walked away, so I started following him.  I aimed my body parallel to him instead of facing him and just edged closer and closer.  He finally figured out what I was doing and trotted over to Chrome.  I just walked around Chrome and reached out to Rocky.  His curiosity got the better of him and he hesitated long enough that I could get close enough to touch him.  I immediately started scratching his sweaty chest (they both sweat all day out in the pasture doing nothing because it's been so hot and humid).  He realized that felt pretty darn good and stood still.  I scratched him all over and hubby walked over to scratch him too.  Rocky is SO DIRTY!!  He's getting a bath this weekend!  My fingers were black within seconds of scratching him.  I guess the good thing about black horses is you can't see the dirt... but they still get dirty haha!!

So tomorrow hubby will take the feed out, keep Rocky away until he sits it down on the ground.  When Rocky is standing still with his ears forward, hubby will walk away, then he will let Rocky eat in peace until he's done.  Chasing him off the feed was just to establish in his mind that we can.  We don't want to do that all the time or it creates anxiety and can actually make food aggression worse.  Someday we should be able to put his feed down, invite him in to eat (turn away) and then come back and pet him while he eats, but it might take a while before he's that comfortable.  He pinned his ears at my dog while he was eating so he's still being protective of his feed.  Baby steps!

Sorry for the boring updates.  Hopefully I'll be able to get some more pictures soon, but don't count on it.  My work schedule is wearing me out!!

Establishing Feeding Time Ground Rules

Sorry no new pictures today (reusing old ones).  I've been incredibly busy and had a headache all day, so it didn't happen.  :(

Yesterday we turned the boys out together for the first time and it all went smoothly.  Until feeding time.  I knew it was going to be interesting figuring out how to feed three at the same time again, but I wasn't counting on Rocky being food aggressive.  I can't really blame him since he lived in a big herd on 100 acres for several years and they fed by throwing feed out on the ground and letting everyone battle it out.

So yesterday I carried the buckets out to the pasture.  Hubby was there, but I wanted to do it on my own since I sometimes have to feed by myself.  I have to pour Chrome's feed in first because his bucket stays in the pasture (it's huge because he dumps smaller ones).  Chrome was standing by his bucket, waiting, like he always does.  Rocky came barreling in and got way too close to me, so I swung my hand around and smacked him with the feed scoop.  I think I got him in the face, but I'm not sure because he was behind me.

He ran away and I walked away from Chrome to sit Rocky's bucket down a fair distance away.  Rocky tried to go around me to chase Chrome off of his feed, so I chased him off again.  When I got him far enough away I was able to put his bucket down and he started eating.  Then I gave the donkey his bucket.  We stood there and watched them all eat.  Chrome got done first and to my surprise he came straight to me.  He didn't even try to go to Rocky's bucket.  When Rocky finished he walked over to Chrome's bucket and Chrome immediately walked over to Rocky's bucket.  When Chrome found it empty he went to chase the donkey off, but I beat him there and picked the bucket up since Zep was done eating anyway.  Then I grabbed Rocky's bucket and all was well.  Not too bad.

Today was a whole different ball game!!  As soon as we walked into the pasture, Chrome waiting by his bucket, Rocky charged!!  I was appalled!!!  Hubby chased him off aggressively several times and Rocky kicked in his direction once, but no where near close enough to touch him.  We were both PISSED!  I immediately moved Chrome's bucket into the round pen where he would be safe (he was eating this whole time) and went to get a whip.

Then I carried Rocky's bucket out again and he tried to approach me while I was still standing by it.  I've decided since he's being aggressive I don't want him even approaching me when I have feed so I smacked him with the whip when he got too close and he ran off.  After that he finally realized I was serious.  I stood by the bucket, facing Rocky and waited.  Every time he tried to approach me I chased him off (but did not hit him again).  When he stopped trying to approach me I turned my back and walked away.  He waited a long minute and then walked to his bucket, ears forward and started eating.  I let him eat for half a minute and then turned and walked toward him.  When he didn't immediately leave the feed I snapped the whip on the ground.  He trotted away.  I did that several times just to make sure he knew that I controlled the feed and that he had to leave if I asked him to.

Once he finished eating I walked over and picked up his bucket.  I had already let Chrome out while Rocky was eating, so he came to me to see if the bucket had crumbs.  To my surprise Rocky walked right up to us, ears forward, not aggressive at all.  I let them both sniff the bucket, pet them both and then walked away.  I put the buckets and whip outside of the pasture and then asked hubby to approach Rocky to make sure he would let him (remember he plays hard to catch sometimes too).

As soon as hubby walked in his direction Rocky bolted!!!  I was so surprised considering I was the one who hit him with a scoop and a whip and I was the one who chased him off the feed.  Then I realized hubby's body language was too assertive and that he was still angry about being charged and kicked at.  So we went to pick apples off the tree and talked for a few minutes while he calmed down.  Rocky can read people very well apparently (as opposed to Chrome who has no clue when you're mad at him haha).

Hubby tried for a few minutes to get Rocky to approach, but he wouldn't.  He just grazed and watched him, moving away if he got too close.  So I grabbed the scoop (Rocky needed more incentive than just an apple) and asked Chrome to follow me, then I asked hubby to walk to me.  Hubby, Chrome and I stood in a circle playing with the scoop and apples.  Rocky heard the apple rattling in the scoop and finally came to us.  Hubby fed him an apple (these are tiny apples) and we walked away again.  After a minute Rocky walked to us again and got another apple.  That time he stood still and let both of us pet on him and Chrome and the goats sniffed our fingers.  We were all a happy family again.

I'm disappointed that he would act like that, but I also understand why he does.  Living in that herd of half wild horses and being on the bottom in rank does that to a horse.  He will just have to learn the ground rules, which are that the humans control the food and he is NEVER allowed to threaten the humans.  I think he will figure it out quickly since we are fair and consistent.

I do not like hitting horses, but they are large, dangerous animals and if he chooses to escalate a situation like that I will return in like kind.  Once he was no longer being threatening I lowered my own aggressive stance.  I was assertive, but calm.  I highly doubt he will need to be touched with the whip again.  All it took was one time to get his attention and prove to him that my bark does have bite if it needs to.

So that's the update on how they are doing.  When there is no feed involved they are one big happy family with no problems at all.  They stand shoulder to shoulder at the gate and neigh at us when we come outside, happy as can be.  Rocky is a bold horse, but he's not mean, so I think once we establish that we are in charge that all of the feeding problems will go away.  For the moment I'm going to continue to feed Chrome in the round pen.  He's a little slow to back down from other horses when he's eating and I don't want him to get hurt if he decides to stand up to Rocky.

In happier news we ordered Rocky a bridle and I can't wait until it gets here.  It's so cool!!!  It's going to be a looooong week waiting for it.  :)

Chrome is so sheltered!

First I wanted to share a few pictures of Faran since I haven't posted anything about him in a while.  I brushed him for half an hour and I swear I got two pounds of fur off of him lol.  I don't mind though because I'm ready for him to shed out his sun bleached winter coat.

He lost a bit of weight over the winter (they all did actually), but he's gaining it back nicely.

You can see his ribs.  :(  His mane is pretty though. It took me a while to get the snarls out because the flies are out and he likes to shake his whole head which makes a quick mess of his mane!  I used some of the Show Sheen detangler on it, so hopefully it will keep some of the snarls out better.  Also I think that was the first time I've used a mister (instead of spray) bottle around him... he panicked at first, but then stood still on the second try.  He's so silly.

Oh I forgot to mention all of this was yesterday, I'm just posting a day late because I had to post baby Friesian pictures.  :)  So I did Chrome's workout yesterday (routine 1 with road walk, tail rotations, pelvic tuck, backing uphill and shoulder back and down stretch) and we went 1.84 miles.  By the way, for those of you who don't have fancy phones (mine doesn't have internet, just call and text) you can download and use Google Earth for free.  It has an Add Path tool that lets you trace out the route you took (use arrow keys to move around the map and mouse to draw path) and then it tells you how far you went.  This obviously works better on roads, but trails might show up pretty well too.  It's really great.

Anyway, I took a video of Chrome as we were walking past the neighbor's horses so you can see how he acts and why I'm a little nervous about riding him out totally alone just yet (and also why I called him sheltered in the post title).  :)  The video is below, but let's look at the pictures I took first.

It was around noon so the lighting wasn't great.

 I'm too tall!  If I forget to crouch, the perspective

 is off and he looks like he has short little legs LOL!

 All natural beveled edge from walking on pavement twice a week!  Yay!

 After we got home, he got a drink and this is him turning to walk back up the bank.

This isn't a great photo, but it shows his muscles (or lack of) fairly well.  Notice how he's getting the dip in front of his withers and developing the underside of his neck?  It's past time for some dressage to correct the way he carries himself, but that's what will make the assessments fun each month to see how his muscles change and develop.  :)

Now on to the video! Sorry I think it is about three and a half minutes long, but it's well worth watching it!!  I hope you can see it.  If not, let me know and I'll try to get screenshots.  So when we walked by the first time he was staring at them like he always does and wanting to get antsy, but he listened well and kept going.  You'll notice in the video whenever we get past them he wants to stop constantly and look back, but it's easy to get him walking again with a cluck and light tug on the rope.  After we went to the hill (which we walked back and forth over twice this time) we came back by on the way home.

On the way back the neighbor horses were amped up!!  They were galloping around, snorting, bronco bucking, just being total nuisances, so of course Chrome got amped up too.  They were all feeding off of each other I think.  So he turned on FULL ARAB MODE and oh my goodness he was GORGEOUS!!!!  I would pay money to see him in an Arabian Liberty Class because boy is he a show off!  That's why you have to watch the video so you can see the arched neck, flagged tail and floating trot hehe.  That is also why I stupidly encouraged him to behave this way when he was younger.  I'm dumb lol.  The good thing is that he's not out of control or anything.  I'm just worried how bad he would be under saddle since he has a tendency to be more nervous without me right there beside him.

Also I do not normally let him have the full length of his rope, but I did today so I could get the video.  He normally doesn't get this amped because I can keep him reeled in and get his attention better (even with his flat nylon halter, which I haven't fixed yet so I'm still using the rope halter).  So anyway I'll quit chattering and let you watch the video...


Isn't he gorgeous??  Or am I just barn blind?  :D

P.S. When I call Chrome an idiot in the video I'm using it as a term of affection.  I call my dog a dummy and my dad a butthead too.  It's just the way my family is. :D  I was never mad at him.  My voice sounds meaner in the video than it does in real life hehe.

Bratty Colt, but Great Review Session!

I did a quick session this morning because it was actually thirty degrees outside. There are some snow flurries coming down but it isn't too bad yet. I just reviewed what we already know. I practiced head lowering first, but made sure to feed his treat at chest height to help "reset" him for the next head lower (thanks Mary!). I was a little uncoordinated with it, but I think we were getting the hang of it. I also was practicing on his right side which isn't his favorite.

After about the third or fourth time of him taking the treat politely he took a treat and then immediately snaked his head at me, threatening to nip. Without thinking I smacked his mouth, blocking the nip (although I don't think he really had intentions of making contact). I felt bad for smacking him, but he did not try to nip even once during the rest of the session. Was that totally wrong of me to do? I didn't hurt him. I'm sure it surprised him. He didn't try to bite again and was taking the treats very nicely after . . .

Anyway after that he came right back to me and wasn't head shy or anything. I started working on backing, again on his right side since he needs more practice. At first he was just lowering his head, then he suddenly seemed to realize I had my hand touching his chest and he was perfect after that. I had to position him with his butt downhill because he was not liking backing up a frozen hill haha.

I also worked on pointing to back with me in front of him. He did okay on that, but wasn't backing straight. I'm not sure what to do to keep him straight unless I put him next to a fence and stand to one side. I'll see about that later.

Next I worked on hindquarter yields on both sides. He has zero hesitation and did them perfectly. When I first switched sides he was walking forward to yield, but I just asked his head to come around and he went back to yielding well without moving forward. He can actually do it with his head straight sometimes too. I was proud of him.

After the yields I called it quits and fed him breakfast. I was still upset about him threatening and me smacking him. Anyway the weather is about to get bad again so I wanted to at least do a review today. :)

Leading from the paddock . . .

This is a follow up from the previous post where I explained about Chrome not wanting to leave the paddock where I let him graze. I let them graze for a few hours then went out to get them. I could tell they'd been galloping around and were excited. I don't know if something scared them or if they were playing. I went armed with my sugar cubes, expecting a huge fight. The last time I led him from the paddock I turned him loose before I closed the gate because Zeppelin hadn't come in yet and he bolted past me back into the paddock. I lost my temper and chased him around (so he couldn't graze) until he let me catch him and lead him back out, so I wasn't surprised when he started to walk away from me today.

I was patient and didn't chase him. He stood near Two Socks and watched me approach. As soon as I touched him he relaxed and let me take his halter. I put the rope on him and gave him the sugar cube (happy I didn't have to use it as a bribe). As I expected he balked when I tried to lead him from the paddock. Instead of backing him or longeing him I swung the rope behind me toward his haunches. I only had to do that twice and then he led from the paddock. I took him all the way to his stall (gave him his second sugar cube and also rubbed him with the lead rope so he wouldn't get skittish about it) and locked him up so I could get Zeppelin out of the paddock and close the gate.

So it went about how I expected. I hate that I chased him that day and now he's skittish of me (he seems like a very reactive horse to me and I don't know for sure if that's just his personality or if it's his age), but he was hard to catch when I got him (see earlier posts), so maybe it's just who he is. I know we can rebuild the trust between us and I know things like this will happen as we both learn. I know I'll make mistakes and I'm going to try not to beat myself up about them. It's not like I beat him or hurt him in any way. I don't want a fear based relationship with him, but I also understand I'm a predator and he's a prey animal. There may always be times when that comes between us. We'll work through that. Anyway, another lesson success. Don't you just love how every interaction with our equine friends is a training (learning) experience?

More Clicker

Picture taken 3-16-2010.

I didn't feel like luring Zeppelin into Chrome's stall so I just put Chrome in it and fed Zep outside. He was much quicker to walk up to me and ate his feed without backing away so often. I think he only left me twice this time as opposed to six or seven times. I don't think it'll take long to build his confidence. I've decided when he's completely relaxed eating from the bucket with me still (I've been talking and moving my head but that's it) then I'll start slowly moving around a bit. A shift of my weight, a movement of my finger or elbow, things like that, until I can actually move my hands on and off the bucket. Eventually this should lead to petting him while he eats.

When Zep finished eating I worked with Chrome in his stall. It was weird working with him in the confined space but he's fine. I worked on backing first, which went well. I kept having to move to reposition him which I'm worried he may view as me giving my space to him (he's really testing his boundaries right now). I'll pay close attention to this and to what I'm doing with my body. At one point while I was waiting on him to chew and deciding what I wanted to do next (I know I need to start having a plan before I start so I don't send mixed up messages to him, but I'm not feeling motivated lately) and he raised his muzzle up to give me kisses. Without thinking I clicked because I really want to teach him to give kisses.

I'm not sure if teaching him kisses is a good idea right now though. I don't know that I'm 100% comfortable with him around my face (he's not acting like he wants to bite, but he does get impatient sometimes and hasn't learned self control yet). His teenage hormones are kicking in and he's being a butt lately, so I don't know. After I clicked that one time he started offering it constantly. The problem is we haven't learned stimulus control and I'm beginning to feel completely out of control of our lessons. I know it's good for him to experiment and offer behaviors, but I don't think I like his attitude sometimes. I don't know how to explain the vibe I'm getting. I'm not scared of him and I don't feel in any danger at all. Part of me wonders if it isn't just my old style of training and my unconscious desire to exert my dominance kicking in. I think I'm kind of a control freak. I'm just going to pay attention and be careful with what I'm doing. Eventually I have to figure out what's going on, but I must be patient. I might try to get my husband to video one of our sessions on his day off so you guys can watch it and see if you can see what's going on.

Also if anyone has any tips on teaching him patience and self control please don't hesitate to chime in. :)

I tried working on him touching the Jolly ball because I would eventually like to teach him to pick it up, but he kept offering kisses and Grownups are Talking (turning his head away). I eventually gave up because he was completely ignoring the ball. I ended the lesson with more backing because he's good at it, I couldn't work on leading in the stall and I was getting tired, bored and frustrated. I let him finish his breakfast and then put his halter on so I could lead him to the other paddock where he could graze.

The last few times I've let him graze he's been a total butt about leaving the grass. One day when my husband went to bring him in Chrome actually threatened him (ugly faces and half reared) then turned and galloped away, popping his butt but not kicking out. This upset me really bad because I wasn't there to discipline him, so he got away with the bad behavior. I haven't let him graze since then because I had to get over my anger and think of a solution. I decided I'm going to halter him and lead him to the paddock, even though the gate is attached to his current paddock and technically I could just open it and let him in. Then when I got to get him I'll take hold of his halter, clip a lead on and give him a treat for letting me catch him (going to use sugar because it's high value).

Then I'll lead him out. If he balks or gets ugly I'll either make him back up or I'll make him trot around me. Something to move his feet and get his attention (and hopefully respect) back on me. Then when I successfully get him back to his paddock I'll give him another sugar cube as his reward. This is a combination of positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement (or would this be considered positive punishment since it's happening after the behavior??). I'll do some reading (to refresh my memory on the different reinforcements) and see if I can find a better way of doing it.

Oh and sorry for the extremely long wordy posts lately. :)

Charging The Clicker & Targeting

I decided to finally get off my lazy rear and start working on clicker training with Chrome. I'll admit I've been putting it off a while because I'm just so afraid of messing anything up. I know how to train a dog but this will be my first time using clicker training methods on a horse. So after a little more research and studying to reassure myself I went out to the pasture armed with clicker, treats and a target stick (a tennis ball on a wooden dowel rod).

First I worked on charging the clicker. Click, treat, click, treat. I quickly realized I was rewarding minor mugging so I quickly moved on to target training. I'm going to work on the mugging thing tomorrow, because I want it drilled into his little brain that he will not get treats for sniffing my hands or pockets. He's doing so well with the nipping thing that I don't want to encourage it all over again. He hasn't offered to nip in a while now.

Chrome caught onto the target training quick! As soon as I held it out he touched the bright tennis ball because he was curious and had never seen one before. All it took was once. After clicking I would put the rod behind my back while feeding the treat, then I would bring it out again and he would touch it immediately. I did that until I ran out of the pocketful of sugar cubes I had. I'm going to dice up an apple later and put a bit of sugar on it with the hopes of converting him to an apple lover. I just don't like feeding him that much sugar. Apple pieces would be so much easier to train with. Anyway, I kept the session short and gave him scratchies afterward. I think he really liked it. Later when I went outside he came right over to me and kind of stretched his head out looking at me like he wanted to play again. :) I think Chrome is going to be fun to train.

The Exciting News

Okay, now finally to the exciting news. I bet you can't guess what Chrome wants in the picture above. Nicker Makers!! He's finally decided he loves the Nicker Maker treats I bought! Between the two of them they ate half a bag of them just while taking these pictures!! Which means I can start clicker training soon. :)

Also, just to keep things in perspective I'm five feet ten inches tall, so Chrome is not as small as he appears in the following pictures. If you're used to being around Quarter Horses and Appaloosas he's huge compared to a weanling of those breeds. He'll more than likely mature with his back at about my chin when I'm standing up straight. :)

So, here are the pictures.

He still sometimes makes faces.

This one looks like an advertisement for Nicker Makers. :D

More please!

Rattling the bag to get pretty ears from the greedy horses.

Stretch for it!

Laughing at Galaxy for wrapping herself around the pole instead of looking over the gate.

Being mean and teasing Galaxy.

It'll be so easy to teach Chrome to smile!
**It looks like Gal is eating my hand lol!

That can't be all!!

I'm going to try to get video of Chrome while we're working on whip desensitizing. He's only seen the whip once (and tried to eat it) and he did so great! He's not scared of it at all, even when I swing it over his head. You'll just have to wait for the video. Here are a couple of pictures.

First time seeing the whip. Giving it a good sniff.

And a nibble.

Rubbing it on his body.

Starts nibbling the lash.

When he took the lash in his mouth I looped it over his head like a bridle and bit. He was a teeny bit surprised, but didn't mind. When I pulled it off his head he still didn't want to let go.

Watching the neighbor's horse Two Socks.

Then I did some work swinging the whip around him and over his body, but it doesn't show up well in pictures, so like I said, I'll get a video tomorrow. It's about time I put my new tripod to use. :D

And a good job rub. He loves having his forehead rubbed.

I was excited today because after I fed him supper and took him back to his nighttime corral he lowered his head before I could rub his forehead! So he has made the connection that lowering his head gets his halter off. :) That's all for now.