Fox lived for his first two years with his large herd of Morgan Horses on thousands of acres in Wyoming and he's very herd savvy. They get along really well. I had Foxsun gelded when he was 27 months old so he was a stallion longer than Wildairo was.
Foxsun's old cow wife is doing OK without him. They have been separated before. She did come to me for a cuddle though.
Echo hasn't forgiven me for leaving him for a week.
Here he is coming over to eat this carrot before I finished it.
I played some mustang fishing with him using a baby carrot as bait.
Something triggered fear in Echo's brain and I have no idea what it was. He must have a flash back to his year in the BLM corrals because he suddenly feared me and started to panic. No longer would he let me touch his face, in fact he turned his back to me and wanted to get through the fence. I had to rethink everything. I decided to make him move. The corral is a big rectangle and my pole too short but I managed to get him lunging in a circle. At first he kept getting stuck in the corners. He is prone to taking flight so I was so please that I could do it without making him panic and running into a fence.
He is a beautiful black bay. Sometimes, in a certain light, he looks a plum color. He can walk, jog and trot in a circle now. He watches for my cues very carefully. I was kind of excited because when he's doing his fast trot if I say 'whoa' and lower my pole he comes to a fast almost skidding stop and turns to face me, head up with nostrils flaring and snorting loudly. He kind of looks and acts like a hot blood.
OK. Enough bragging. The truth is he will not go in the other direction. William says he's like Zoolander. He freaks out when I try to turn him. When I do get him turned he takes off like a bat out of hell till he gets to the next corner and he spins to face me snorting with his eyes bugging out.
I break up the training with lots of time outs. I bend my head down and let him rub his nose in my hair and he'll let me touch his face a bit. Oh I wish he was wearing a halter still. I has worried when he was wearing one with all the thing's around here it could get caught on, so I was relieved when he pulled it off. But I could make him come right up to me when I gently pulled the lead rope.
Echo is a kind gentle soul and a pleasure to be around.
3 comments:
When Beautiful lost her halter I used that long rope 25' on the long PVC pole and twisted it around the end with a long piece dangling. Then, I'd put it over her withers, up her neck, and untwist the rope (the higher the better) and then attempt to get both ends in my hand and work it around her neck to desensitize her. Eventually it worked a lot like a halter and I'd pull her around to face me to keep her out of the corners. But that was in a 24x24 space, too.
It sounds like he loves you.
Those mustangs don't like for us to take vacation, I think!
Thanks for your advice. I could have him follow me back to the small pen to try what you did. I can't touch him anywhere but his face. He really freaks out when I move the pole past his face still. When I had him moving I touched his back twice with the pole and I thought he was going to run into the fence again. He's a very scared little guy.
On the other hand, Wildairo never had a problem being touched all over with the pole. He loved being scratched behind the ears after about the second day. Wildairo would never trot in a circle either for more than one round. He wouldn't move away from me without me going nuts.
Thanks again.
That is common when you leave for any type of period, they do seem to take a step back.
I would work him on the side he freaks out on more often. Do some round pen roues, approch and retreat and keep it broke up. I found out years ago it seem easier on them for short periods. I use to do 15 mins 4 to 5 times a day. as time passes you can build it longer and cut off the excess time :-)
good luck
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