Icy mornings

We've had some wicked frosts here over the last few weeks, with temperatures well below zero overnight. This photo was taken early on one of those frosty mornings.  It looks a bit like mud in the photo but that's actually ice all over Tama's back and mane.  He's so well insulated that he was toasty warm underneath but the ice was quite thick in places on top of all that curly Kaimanawa hair.

Progress with the halter and leading
 He comes up to see me when I enter the paddock, and stands quietly while I put his halter on and off, so I haven't needed to leave it on him in the paddock after all.  I'm really stoked about that, because I don't like leaving halters or other gear on horses if I can help it - there's just too much risk of them getting snagged on something and causing injury.

He's also beginning to learn to lead nicely.  In fact, he tends to follow me around the paddock everywhere I go, which is making it difficult to get clear identification photographs for his Kaimanawa registration!

Here's a couple of photos of me (looking really stylish in my oldest muddiest paddock clothes) and Tama (looking cleaner than usual because I've almost finished brushing him).

In which Tama wears his halter like a pro and he makes Daisy-May's acquaintance

Well I have spent a total of about 2 hours with Tama over the last week or so - about the most he's had each day is hay thrown over the fence.  Not ideal, but what with work, study and my dad being really unwell, his training has taken a backseat.   (Which is a double shame because working with the horses really helps me to keep my stress levels down, as well as benefiting them).

However, I got an hour with him yesterday morning, and another hour or so this morning and we've made SUCH progress just in that much time!  I just wish I was able to work with him every day.

Most exciting is that I finally put a halter on him this morning.  It was easy as pie, and he wasn't in the least bit concerned.  He'll wear it in the paddock for a while, until I've done a bit more work with taking it off and putting it on again over the next few weeks.

One of the other things we've been practicing is 'happy faces'.  He has a tendency to put his ears back when I walk up to him, or reach out to brush him, which is just him being cautious and wanting to keep an eye on things I think, but it doesn't feel nice for either of us so I've been reinforcing him for putting his ears forward.

Putting this sort of behaviour on cue has a double-sided benefit, as what you reinforce (the ears forward) is so intrinsically linked to the emotional state that you ultimately reinforce the positive emotions as well.  It works in the same way as it does with people, in that it's very difficult to maintain negative emotions when we smile (even if at first it's a 'fake' smile).  Another behaviour which causes this effect in horses is the head-lower, which is calming and helps with emotional control.  If a horse has been taught to lower its  head on cue you can use that behaviour when it is stressed or over-excited to calm the animal down, and many horses then begin to spontaneously use it themselves when something has scared them. 

Anyway, he's definitely getting the idea of happy faces, and is progressing well with that.  Mike (my hubby) said Tama looked pretty funny, concentrating really hard and flicking his ears forward and back as he figured out what I was reinforcing him for.

He's also letting me touch all over his face, ears and poll now which is nice.  Here is Tama making the acquaintance of Daisy-May, our beautiful but thoroughly impractical-for-the-farm ragdoll cat.  He thought she was kinda interesting.

For anyone interested, here is a fantastic paper written by Dr Sue McDonnell about how (and why) to exclusively use positive reinforcement to solve problems with horses who are injection shy or otherwise "non-compliant" with veterinary procedures.  I like that she recommends training in an open paddock, rather than the tight confines of yards or pens.

What's more, the reasons described for using these methods are the same for any animal learning any new behaviour that might be considered stressful (such as putting a halter on a feral pony for the first time, for example!).

Dr McDonnell is the keynote speaker at the Bayer Lecture Series this year, and I'll be going to hear her speak.

Brushes and hands and ropes, oh my

It's so frustrating with these short days, by the time I get home it's usually dark.  It's been three days since I've been able to get out in the paddock and play with the horses.  Only another couple of weeks until solstice and then we can start looking forward to more daylight hours.

I spent half an hour or so this afternoon brushing Tama.  He's stopped flinching or looking nervous when I go to touch him, and today he just kept on eating hay with his ears forward as I brushed him all over, including his tummy.  I haven't done his legs yet, but I probably could have done if I'd chosen to persist.

 I have to concentrate very hard to make sure I never go into autopilot while brushing him - I need to constantly watch his body language in my peripherals to make sure he's comfortable otherwise I'm leaving myself open to being kicked.  He lets me know quite clearly when he feels uncomfortable or pressured, but has never been particularly serious about it and I've never seen him actually lift a foot.

 I also did some rope work with him today for the first time - rubbing him all over with it, throwing it over his back and neck, and looping it around his neck.  He just flicked his ears back now and then to keep an eye on me and kept on eating.

I left it at that for today, we're in no rush.

This is all being done out in the paddock with him free to walk away at any time.  He seemed to be enjoying the attention though and only walked away a few times momentarily before coming back to me.

 He's still not a fan of his face being touched, but I imagine it won't take long for him to get over that.  He quite likes being scratched up behind his ears, it's only when my hand goes into his blind spot up on his forehead that he gets worried.

2012 Kaimanawa muster - bring the tissues!

Not really a blog post today, just a link to an amazing teaser for a full length documentary on this year's muster, produced by Amanda Wilson.  This is a serious tear jerker, I'm warning you!  (I was in floods, just quietly).

To see so vividly where my little boy has come from, only a week and a half ago - the family he has lost, along with everything he has ever known, and the stark comparison with his life now - I'm awestruck all over again at how he is coping with his grief and the trust he is giving me already. 

Click here to view the video

(To see beautiful photos from the muster and keep updated on the documentary progress, like "Keeping up with the Kaimanawas" on Facebook).

They got some strange-looking ponies around here...

Tama met Podge the kunekune pig for the first time today.

If he thought Honey and Hokey Pokey were a bit weird-looking compared to his Kaimanawa herd-mates, he must have really been confused when Podge came up to say hello.  As with everything else though, he took it completely in his stride and didn't even blink an eye.

I am so very, very impressed at how level-headed he is.  When I opened the gate to a new paddock today the other two went for a hoon around, as they usually do, but he just stood and watched them and then carefully picked his way downhill to the gate and trotted sedately over to join them once they'd settled down.  I never thought the 9-month old wild colt would be more sensible than my pregnant brood-mare!

"Oh, it's that camera again."

I gave him a good brush yesterday (not that you can tell in these photos!), almost everywhere except his legs.  He still only tolerates it for a few minutes at a time, but he's getting a lot better.  He's also letting me touch him all over when he's loose out in the paddock, which is pretty great, as before that had only occurred in the yards where he's a bit more confined.

He's also had his Equest-plus wormer yesterday, so hopefully that will get rid of the last of them.  Maybe that funny pot-belly will start to recede and he can put some healthy weight on!

He has started learning some food manners, and I was astonished at how quickly he picked up on what I was wanting.  I was asking him to stand politely and look away from the food with ears pricked, and after only a handful of 3-minute sessions he was clearly understanding what I was asking of him, and was giving me near-perfect responses much of the time.  

Humans may not be so bad after all... they're pretty good at scritching the itches

*Name update: We're thinking his name will be Tama.  We'll trial it for a while, and see how it feels*

There's been a few breakthroughs in the last few days!

The first needs some context - which is that neither of the ponies have ever considered hard feed to be edible.  In fact, they never considered anything but grass and hay edible until they decided earlier this year that carrots were pretty great.  (Unless the carrots had feed crumbs on them, in which case they'd be spat out in disgust).  Last night I took some chaff/maintenance mix out to them and they munched away like they'd been eating it forever.  Woohoo I can finally give them magnesium supplements!  And now we just have to get Tama eating it so I can get a paste wormer into him.  He'll copy the other two in no time I'm sure.

 The second even more exciting breakthrough happened this morning.  Honey was out grazing in the paddock, and the boys (Tama and Hokey Pokey) were down in the yards together.  It really is adorable how they're already such good mates, and especially as a lot of it isn't just the new boy needing to be friends but it's Hokey choosing to be friends.  Honey wandered down with me and we all stood around eating carrots and having a scratch, and Tama came right up and stood beside Hokey and ate hay from my hand.  He's been watching very carefully over the last few days whenever the ponies come up to me for cuddles or treats.

I gave Hokey scratches all over and then reached out and scratched Tama's rump (I think at first he thought it was Hokey doing it, but wasn't concerned when he turned his head and realised it was me).  He lifted his tail so I could get better access to his bum cheeks, and then I scratched him all the way up to his mane.  So, that was our first voluntary touching by a human.  He was mustered from the wild less than a week ago.
  

Note: Because I'm determined for every interaction with this Kaimanawa to be entirely free of fear or coercion, I'm taking things slower than many people might.  I'll put a halter on him and teach him to yield to rope pressure when he decides he's ready, and in order to help him become ready I'll be working with him until he doesn't show any discomfort or confusion about the idea.

The only timeframe we have which will not be dictated by Tama is that he needs to be gelded by September, and therefore needs to be halter-trained and happy to be handled for the sedation by then.  This is because Honey is due in late September, and so will be in season a couple of weeks later.   I don't think we'll have any issues having him ready for that.