Grits and her VERY large foal currently known as baby until I figure out his name. I am debating her as Lucy and him as Dezi but she really seems like a Grits. I will post more pictures but first a word for the RAC.
This was the extreme of round penning desensitization. I stayed outside the corral while she paced and paced and I took pictures. She snorted at me and seemed as if she would never relax.
So, instead of going into the pen with her as I would with a younger or more peopled horse I stayed outside and talked soft and quiet while I took pictures.
The colt kept looking and acting as if he wanted to come over to me but momma being so nervous made him unsure. Eventually Grits slowed down and began to pace less until she finally stopped. Once she cocked a leg and chewed I turned and walked away to do an extreme release of pressure.
When I went back for round two of the pictures at the time we turned her out, I noticed she was considerably quieter. It always amazes me how quickly that release of pressure training works. And I cannot wait til we get her in and wean the foal so I can work more with him.
And now for more pictures but never fear I won't post all I have - I took 300! but only kept a portion. Watch for more on our website http://www.bitowy.com/ on the Curly Broodmare page. Oh and I will try to post the video of their turn out.
SO SLEEPY! You might want to turn your volume down as the wind is noisy and I do not yet know how to edit the sound out.
OMG, what a little stud muffin!! (Pardon the pun)!! What a pair! Good job on the pressure point, it is amazing to watch and more amazing to me just how simple it is both in priciple and in execution!!
ReplyDeleteThey look great! The foal is so cute and indeed large! The mare also moves nice! Good that she was more quiet the second time you took pictures, she already got used to it a bit more.
ReplyDeleteWhat a large space to turn them out (the video) not a fence in sight! This is something you will almost never see in the Netherlands. Our horses of course have a fields but it is never that large, space is always limited here.
@ Lisa, Yup he looks like a little stuffed sausage but I draw the line at naming him sausage - and brat"wurst" plays poorly no matter which way you shorten it! LOL
ReplyDelete@Jessica - we are blessed with space and ours is small in comparison to many in WY. This is a 480 acre pasture or 1 mile by 3/4 mile. I like her movement too.
Very neat to see! How big do you think the mare is? Is she turned out with a herd? How will you catch them?!
ReplyDeleteShelly in Summerland
Shelly, your 'small' pasture sounds quite large to me:)
ReplyDeleteSorry I meant Ellen of course in my last comment but since I just read Shelly's comment I automatically typed Shelly:)
ReplyDelete@ Shelly, Grits is out with our mare band which is about 23 horses. She will not integrate right away as they have to establish pecking order etc ... but she will be allowed to hang on the outskirts close enough for safety - not that that is much of an issue here but the instinct will be strong in her. Grits is about 14 maybe 14.1 hands so she is not very big but ironically we now have people looking for smaller horses so our larger horses have become passe.
ReplyDeleteTo catch her or any of the horses that are not halter trained, we treat the 480 acres like a large round pen. The horses already here will help us in this as they know that when the 4-wheeler comes out running fast it means head for the corral as that is the only place they get to rest. So, Grits will follow the herd, as instinct drives her, and she will follow them right back into the corral we just turned her loose from.
Once in the corral we can set the panels so we can sort the horses and/or load them into a trailer. We use the corrals behind our house for weaning and further training so the "wild" horses move from one corral to the other in the trailer. Those born here and those with our foundation we halter and lead over either on foot or behind the 4 wheeler.
Horses are so amazing in that we feed them with a four-wheeler, herd them with a 4-wheeler and lead them with a 4-wheeler and yet they seem to always be able to distinguish which time is which! The newer BLM adoptees have a harder time with this as their every instinct says run but they learn quite quickly.
@ Jessica, I understood/understand! And the rest of the story is we have a total of 1200 acres broken into various size pastures for ease of grazing .... AND because we get so little moisture we need this much to feed our stock - I envy those with smaller acreages but WAY more grass as I suspect is the case in your country.
Wow wonderful and adorable. Congratulations, Ellen. You must be VERY proud!
ReplyDeleteOh now, Brat sounds like a good nick name! They look amazing!
ReplyDelete@Caren - Thanks! Happy and proud!
ReplyDelete@Carrie - HEY! He may prove to be a Brat but really do I want to advertise it? LOL
Ellen
Ellen,
ReplyDeleteShe is beautiful. Is this Blondie's filly?
Angie
wauw I like this mare and her HUGE foal. They look realy stocky I like that a lot. And same as Jessica said you do have a lot of land, I was wondering how you get the horses back, you explained very well, I learned new things! I think we have a lot of land haha (156 acres) and comparing to the Netherlands (wich I come from) it is huge. But like you said you need a lot of forage with the dry weather.
ReplyDeletekeep the stories coming about your mustangs!!
@ Angie - nope this is a completely different mare and foal from Blondie/Peep. If you check our site, you can see Blondie who has been renamed Peep as Blondie just did not work for me. She has her own page labeled Blondie/Peep http://www.bitowy.com/bit-o-wy_blonde.htm. I do not have her foal - a little colt who was wavey in the summer but has gone fuzzy for the winter - as I have had mega-computer challenges and am just now finding my lost pictures and getting the site updated.
ReplyDeleteDagwood, B/P's foal will be on the 2010 curly foal page until we determine his coat at which time he might move to a different page. Oh, I kept Blondie as a prefix as that is the name the Curly community knows her by.
Ellen, we have smaller pastures but never enough to feed the horses. We always buy lots of hay. Even in spring and summer they get extra hay along with the grass. It is funny but some of our hay even comes from abroad:)The Netherlands is quite small and with lost of people and horses.
ReplyDeleteSome people of course have larger pastures but every livery I know in this area buys extra hay. My horse is also at a livery and together with the other horse owners we buy the hay. Nice to read about the differences in different countries.
@ Jessica, It is very fun to learn about other countries! I would have expected there to be enough grass to feed the horses but as with us it is numbers and weather dependent!
ReplyDelete