Today was another amazing day working with the colts.
We woke up this morning and did our regular chores. Tony is taking to his medicine a lot better now; it's hardly a struggle anymore. After that we headed down to the barn where Calico was already watering it down. I took over while her and Melissa practiced their roping skills. We then brought in the colts and began working with them. Today we were able to halter each of them outside the round pen just by walking right up to them. I worked with Calico's colt, Leonard, and Winston. With Leonard I worked on moving his hind end and getting him to lead better. He's pretty much to the point where he leads just fine, you just need to get his feet going. I also worked on backing him up with the smallest gesture of feel. He took on quite well and did great!
With Winston, I worked on much of the same exercises, but took it a little bit further. He was a little bit more sticky when it came to leading, but we worked on it a lot more. When we got that a little bit better, I lead him over to the front of the arena where we keep some of the saddle pads. I spent quite a bit of time getting him used to the saddle pad. At first, I let him sniff it on the fence and then flapped it around a little bit. He didn't seem too bothered about it, but still curious. After that, I took it off the fence and let him sniff it again. I then slowly put it to his neck and started rubbing it on him. I did this on both sides and in the saddle area of his back. Once he seemed relaxed with that, I gently set it on his back. I led him around with it on quite a few steps and rubbed him real good with my hands. I then tapped the saddle pad with a cupped palm to make a louder noise without as much pressure. When he was fine with that, I flapped the sides of the pad up and down several times. I finally decided to see if he would be alright with me swinging it on and off his back. Of course, he ws not even phased by this. I figured that was an excellent place to stop for the day and let him soak up everything he did today. Jenn even took a video, which can be found here. After working with Winston and the saddle pad, Jenn made a comment on how all horses are gentle like this; it's the human that messes that all up.
After that, Ty, Calico, Melissa, and I went out to the hay pasture to see some more of the horses they have here on the ranch. There were about fifteen of them out there and they were all so beautiful as expected. After that, we headed to Granny's for lunch where we had hamburger with potatoes and cheesy green beans.
We came back to the house where Jenn packed up more kitchen stuff while Melissa started mowing the lawn and I cleaned up the kitchen a little bit. We then went down to the barn and fixed the electric fence where Chachi will be residing with the mares that are coming in. We got that all fixed and put him in there with his first mare of the summer, a beautiful palomino. After that it was a slow going afternoon. We led the studs that we moved to different pens to give them water and filled up the tub for the colts and their new babysitter, Gump. Melissa and I headed back to our house where she mowed the lawn and I showered and called my mom.
Jenn cooked us some burgers for dinner and we fed our calves. Now it's time for bed as another Friday has gone by in the ranching world.
We woke up this morning and did our regular chores. Tony is taking to his medicine a lot better now; it's hardly a struggle anymore. After that we headed down to the barn where Calico was already watering it down. I took over while her and Melissa practiced their roping skills. We then brought in the colts and began working with them. Today we were able to halter each of them outside the round pen just by walking right up to them. I worked with Calico's colt, Leonard, and Winston. With Leonard I worked on moving his hind end and getting him to lead better. He's pretty much to the point where he leads just fine, you just need to get his feet going. I also worked on backing him up with the smallest gesture of feel. He took on quite well and did great!
With Winston, I worked on much of the same exercises, but took it a little bit further. He was a little bit more sticky when it came to leading, but we worked on it a lot more. When we got that a little bit better, I lead him over to the front of the arena where we keep some of the saddle pads. I spent quite a bit of time getting him used to the saddle pad. At first, I let him sniff it on the fence and then flapped it around a little bit. He didn't seem too bothered about it, but still curious. After that, I took it off the fence and let him sniff it again. I then slowly put it to his neck and started rubbing it on him. I did this on both sides and in the saddle area of his back. Once he seemed relaxed with that, I gently set it on his back. I led him around with it on quite a few steps and rubbed him real good with my hands. I then tapped the saddle pad with a cupped palm to make a louder noise without as much pressure. When he was fine with that, I flapped the sides of the pad up and down several times. I finally decided to see if he would be alright with me swinging it on and off his back. Of course, he ws not even phased by this. I figured that was an excellent place to stop for the day and let him soak up everything he did today. Jenn even took a video, which can be found here. After working with Winston and the saddle pad, Jenn made a comment on how all horses are gentle like this; it's the human that messes that all up.
After that, Ty, Calico, Melissa, and I went out to the hay pasture to see some more of the horses they have here on the ranch. There were about fifteen of them out there and they were all so beautiful as expected. After that, we headed to Granny's for lunch where we had hamburger with potatoes and cheesy green beans.
We came back to the house where Jenn packed up more kitchen stuff while Melissa started mowing the lawn and I cleaned up the kitchen a little bit. We then went down to the barn and fixed the electric fence where Chachi will be residing with the mares that are coming in. We got that all fixed and put him in there with his first mare of the summer, a beautiful palomino. After that it was a slow going afternoon. We led the studs that we moved to different pens to give them water and filled up the tub for the colts and their new babysitter, Gump. Melissa and I headed back to our house where she mowed the lawn and I showered and called my mom.
Jenn cooked us some burgers for dinner and we fed our calves. Now it's time for bed as another Friday has gone by in the ranching world.