Friday, January 28, 2011


Hello everyone, I just had to share Tonic's enlightenment the other night. Tonic is my youngster, he is just coming 4 this year and we have been working fairly slowly with our ground work and his confidence in himself as well as me. I have been staking both boys out so they can graze and when I took them back in to their pasture I was spending time just hanging out with the boys while my wife Lisa was playing with her mares. Tonic had walked over to clean up the alfalfa that the girls had left and when I called him, he ignored me! It was dark out so I hesitated for a brief moment and decided that it was better to address it right then. I made him move his feet, as he went running by me, there were 3 other horses running with him, Ringo included. I told Ringo that it was ok, Tonic was the one in trouble, not him so he stopped and hung back right on my heels. After 2 trips around the pasture, I called Tonic and he came to me while I was praising him telling him what a good boy he is and as I started walking I asked him to walk with me. He said NO and turned and trotted off. Well after repeating the above steps several times, lol he realized that if he just walked up to me and stayed with me, all would be well. We came in and I let him stop at the alfalfa and I walked a little farther away, figuring that since we were here and we started this, lets take it all the way. I called Tonic and he came right off the hay and right to me with no hesitation. Aaahhh success, for now! We shall see if it sticks

5 comments:

  1. Wow he has such a sweet expression in his face. HOW do you do that? My horses would never leave their hay for me lol :)

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  2. Persistence and patience pay off, huh Paul! Good for you and for Tonic!
    Ellen Cheyenne, WY

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  3. Wow, that was a really cool thing to do with Tonic. Linus would probably choose his hay over me too!!

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  4. Tonic sounds great. Leaving food when you call is special! All the horses I've had have been kind of obsessed with food and will not easily leave their food. Tonic also looks really cute!

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  5. Tonic is a very handsome boy!! Communicating the message in a way he understands is the key! Awsome Job!!!!

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