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Oct. 12, 2009
Just An Excuse To Watch Them
I spent the morning out brushing Sahara and Negev's mane and tails, getting out the burrs. It's a long job detangling the wind blown and matted mess with the sticky seeds in there. But while I'm out there, I'm watching Trent work with Shomeir. He's got her in the round pen, had her running at first, trying to get her to settle into submitting to his leadership. She's not having it much, but neither did Sahara when she first arrived, so we have some experience with hot-headed mares.
He used the lung whip to desensitize her to touch. He used it to reach out to her and touch her on her back her hips, her tummy, her neck and ears over and over and over again, gently touching her with it until he could walk up to her slowly and use his hands to touch her. Finally he was able to latch the lead onto her halter (she's been wearing a halter since we got her - we don't usually keep halters on, but with her being wild, we decided to just leave it on for the time being, until she's gentled a bit)
Then once the lead was on, he tried to get her to do some lunging.. and tried to lead her some. She wasn't very co-operative, but he didn't give up, he kept on working with her, trying to lead her through the barn, trying to lead her forwards and back..
Finally, he had Myles come and hold her, while he worked on her feet. She lifted the front fairly easily, but the back feet was met with attempted kicks each time he tried to lift her foot. He spoke to her firmly and told her no and tried again, spoke to her face, told her he was in charge and kept working. All four feet got cleaned out.
So, brushing the horses was just an excuse to watch Trent.. I love to see how he is patient and persistent and determined.
Meanwhile, Myles was walking around photographing things, and Rourke was playing with the littles and taking down the trampoline.. and Stuart was wandering around with Elias. Every once in a while Janney or Asher would come help me brush.
We've finished lunch now, so I'm off to go do some more brushing, and more watching as the boys continue to work with the horses..
Oh - today is Simchat Torah - no usual work. Today we're just enjoying the outdoors, playing with our horses. We'll read some scriptures later.. but for now, it's so nice and mild out, and the sun is shining, the snow is on the ground, but it's a sweater day.. Joy of Torah - Joy of Life.. it is the season of our Joy.
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