Out into the paddock

I suspect Marika is accustomed to having other horses in her band make decisions for her and generally lead the way in life.  Finding herself alone in such strange surroundings and with a foal to protect has really thrown her.  

After a whole day and night of hiding in the yards, they finally allowed themselves to be lured out into the paddock with some hay.  They're still retreating back there regularly for rest, but seem to be increasingly comfortable out in the open.  The other horses were clearly making Marika nervous, so I've put them into the neighbouring paddock.

Marika is starting to see people as a steady and reliable presence in her life, where everything else is pretty scary and overwhelming.  She'll happily walk right up to me with hay in my hand, and Whetu is getting there also but is still very flighty.  

Skinny little thing

Slowly but surely

Marika continues to be very very cautious. Baby Whetu is much more inquisitive than her mother, but Marika is being surprisingly protective of her considering Whetu's age (6 months-ish).  Whetu really needs to get out from under the apron strings so she can find her own way. 

They're both eating hay out of our hands, and I've had some brief touches on the face while eating but they weren't particularly happy about it. More work to be done there. 

(You can see I've put a halter on Marika - she wasn't overly happy about the process but considering how nervous she is still, I wasn't comfortable with letting her into the paddock without it on).

I let them out in the paddock this morning, and as of this evening they were still in the yard. A short venture partway into the paddock and contact with a hot-wire was enough for one day, apparently. 

Although my ponies have been keeping them company for a week, Marika showed no interest in meeting them without a fence between, and seemed nervous at the sight of them in the paddock. When Minstrel approached she pinned her ears and told him pretty clearly to go away, with both heels and teeth. 

 They'll have to come out tonight or tomorrow, they're going to get hungry very soon!

First touch

I spent several hours with Marika and Whetu this morning, and while she allowed me to come within 1-2 metres of her (a huge improvement), she was still not overly comfortable. She is nervous and lacks the curiosity about people that some Kaimanawas have, probably because she's constantly worried about her baby. She's reasonably ok with me being near her, but she was clearly not intending to make any moves of her own and I'm not going to push her. 

I opened the gate to the yard race, and wandered back to the shed to make a feed up for her.  By the time I got back she and Whetu had taken themselves in there and were standing quietly.

So since they'd decided to go in of their own accord, I took the opportunity to very gently handle Marika.  It wasn't my original plan to handle her in the race, but that's the way it worked out.

I'm not doing anything with Whetu at the moment - she's naturally more bold than her mother anyway, and also I have all the time in the world to work with her.  She'll learn off her mum and my other horses in her own time.

She didn't want me to go near her face, so I respected that, but spent a quiet couple of hours gently teasing the enormous mat out of her mane. 

I don't want them stuck in the yards for too much longer, so she's going to need to show me that she's ready to go out in the paddock with the others. 

Marika & Whetu

The mare's name is Marika - it means calm, quiet or steady in te reo.  The foal is Whetu, which means star.

Here they are at the muster yards in a beautiful photo taken by Kelly Wilson of Keeping up with the Kaimanawas.  Marika is third from the bottom, and Whetu is tucked in behind her.

I've left them to their own devices for the first few days just to settle in.  They've had hay and water obviously, but otherwise I've left them alone to recover.  Aren't they beautiful!

2014 Kaimanawas - a whole new adventure!

Well, shoot, I did it again.
I was actually not intending to adopt any horses from this year's muster - mainly because of this:

Not surprisingly, he is taking up a lot of my spare time.

However, as per usual they were short of homes for Kaimanawas, and since the alternative is the slaughter truck.... well.  Also, I met someone who wanted to give a home to a mare but didn't have the facilities etc to take one straight from muster.  So I agreed to take on a mare and foal combo.  The mare will go to her new home once she's halter/float trained etc and the foal is weaned off.  I'm expecting that to happen early spring, but we're flexible about it.

The muster took place on the 27th May, and the mare and foal arrived at my place at midday on the 28th.  That's some fast work!  Thanks to an unbelievably professional and streamlined muster process by Kaimanawa Heritage Horses,  this mare and foal were only in yards/transit for 24 hours or so.   

So, without further ado... here they are

Tama's next adventure begins

Tama has found a wonderful home with a family in Pukekohe.  He will have another Kaimanawa gelding and a bunch of minis as friends.  Sad to see him go, but with my baby arriving in a few months I'm not going to have the time to give him that he deserves.  He'll be spoiled rotten in his new home and hopefully they'll keep him and start him under saddle.

Kaimanawa National Show

Well Tama was a little star.  He was the only baby at the show, which surprised me as I thought a few more people would make the most of the occasion as a socialisation/training exercise for their young ones, like I did.  It was the perfect opportunity, being a very low-key and supportive environment.

We got a lot of comments, like "oh look it's a foal" and "wow he'll be a big boy when he grows into his legs", which all helped to remind me just how much growing up he still has to do!  I know it seems obvious to everyone else, but I see him every day and sometimes forget how immature he actually is.

He was quite fussy and irritable all morning, pawing and grabbing with his mouth, which I suspect was largely because he'd managed to get himself fairly covered in tick bites over the last day or two, so must have been very itchy.

Despite that the judge was very kind and made a number of comments on his good manners and sweet nature.

Getting ready for the show...

Kaimanawa Heritage Horses National show is on tomorrow.  Tama has been shampooed (twice!) and had his ears and tail trimmed.  I'm not into the 'shaved whiskers, painted socks and makeup' look that some in-hand horses are subjected to, so he's going to be fairly au naturel.

Unfortunately he's not going to be  in the fancy-dress class after all, because I've just been way too busy to organise it, and decided I didn't need the extra stress.  Next year I'll get organised super early.

Updates and photos to come after tomorrow!

A mish-mash of recent events

The most exciting news is that at just on one year old, Tama is already 14hh!! I measured him as accurately as possible with a tape, and he was showing as 14hh or even slightly over.  So I'm pretty excited about that, because it may mean I could realistically ride him one day.

Love this pic.  This is Tama and his big brother Hokey Pokey (2 years old) going on an adventure to watch a pony club ribbon day.

When we got there I went over to the office and tried to do the right thing by paying a ground fee.  "Oh NO..." they said, "you can't have a yearling on Pony Club property!".  I suggested they pop their head outside to see just how calm and sensible he is, but they were adamant.  (I didn't mention that he was also a Kaimanawa from last year's muster!).  Never mind, we stood around and watched for a while and then went home, having achieved what we went there for anyway.  

They were absolutely calm and absolutely well behaved the entire time.  It was a bit of a non-event really, which of course is exactly what you want when training and socialising young horses.

This is Tama trying to convince me to give him the carrot that's in my hand.  He is still struggling a little with the difficult concept of not being allowed to attempt to eat all edible (and sometimes non-edible) substances in his general vicinity.  When he's concentrating he's super polite and tries real hard, but more often than not, he forgets.  That instinct is just really strong, especially at this age.  All I can do is continue to be really consistent, and only ever reward him when he's being polite.  He'll get there.  Eventually.  I hope.  

I have bought a leather bitless bridle from Equigear, and I'm really happy with it so far.  It'll make a great in-hand headcollar for Tama when he goes to shows, but it will also mean that I can start doing some work to start Honey under saddle.

So here are a few photos of Tama posing and looking handsome.  I hope you appreciate them, because it took bloody ages to convince him to stand still and prick his ears.  He was much more interested in finding out what edible crumbs there might be mixed into the driveway gravel.  Sigh.

If I ever get time, I will teach him to do a stand-stay and pose for the camera.  One day.

My husband saw him wearing his bridle, and looking all shiny and gorgeous, and said "he looks like a REAL HORSE now!"   (...as opposed to what, you ask?  Well, as opposed to a shaggy rastafarian swamp monster, like he was only 4 or 5 months ago).

Just look at that lean, angular body - he looks like a catwalk model! Can't wait for him to fill out over the next couple of years.

The hose monster is defeated!

After the biggest battle of Tama's life, we have finally defeated the hose monster.

Many many things  have happened to this baby horse in his short life.  He was herded by helicopters over the wide open Kaimanawa plains, taken off his mother and away from his family band, and put into yards with crowds of other horses.  He was driven all the way from Waiouru to Huntly to Hunua on a cattle truck, with each of the other horses leaving him one after the other until he was the only one left on the truck.  He was all alone, at about 6 months of age, in that big empty rattling truck, until he finally arrived... to a strange place with strange coloured horses and strange tasting food and scary human beings and lots of wire fences that bite when you touch them.

In a matter of weeks he learned to let me touch him all over, put ropes and straps on his head, pick his feet up, lead him around and tie him to a post, preventing his natural flight instinct.  What's more, having never seen a float before, he proceeded to learn in less than 15 minutes to walk up the ramp and into that small metal box and have the ramp shut behind him so he was trapped inside.  And he was perfectly calm about it.

...but the HOSE !!!! Now that was a different story altogether.  Even when it was just lying on the ground gently leaking water he was adamant it was a Very Scary Thing.

During the fourth or fifth lengthy training session, after making very little progress, Tama and I had a bit of a battle.  I picked up the hose; he reared, spun around and tried to push past me. What was interesting about his behaviour during this session though, was that all the while he was rearing and pushing and carrying on, he didn't seem at all scared any more. He was very deliberate in the way he was behaving. He was simply saying "NO", in as clear a manner as he knew how.
 I stayed very calm and insisted that he was polite, and eventually he was lunged in small circles for a long time before having the hose on one more time and then going back to the paddock.

Well what d'you know... next time I got the hose out he kept his 'thinking brain' switched on and I was able to click and reinforce him for the hose wetting his back and shoulder.  Within minutes I extended the duration out and only clicked him for standing still while being hosed, and voila!  He is now standing quietly and eating his dinner while I hose him all over. He may even have realised it's quite nice having a bath on a hot day.

About bloody time!

It is very seldom (actually virtually never) that I would use the word 'dominant' to describe an animal's behaviour - most of the time I believe that label is a cop-out by the trainer, and usually it's applied incorrectly as justification for aversive training methods.  But I'm fairly sure that this hose argument was in fact an attempt to test my leadership, and more specifically, to test whether or not the rearing and pushing would work for him then and in future, as a way to avoid doing something he'd really rather not do!  It seems I passed his test.  Thank god for that.

First adventure away from home

Tama had his first adventure away from home today. I've leased a float for the summer so today we drove into the Hunua ranges. He loaded perfectly both directions, travelled well, and was really calm and responsive on the ground.
He's ready to go to a show, I think!

I've finally sent away his registration papers so if the number arrives in time I'll enter him in the North Island All Breeds Show, on the 6th January. Then there's Franklin A&P on the 16th, and the Kaimanawa Heritage Horse show at the end of February.  By then he'll be well and truly accustomed to crowds and fuss!

Who's that pony?!

Where did my scruffy awkward-looking Kaimanawa weanling go?  Tama's looking SO good now that his coat has come out.  While he still has a lot of filling out to do, he's grown up so much in the last month or so. These are going to be his registration photos.  Only a couple of months until the Kaimanawa Heritage Horses show!

I spent the morning with him, teaching him to take a paste wormer in his mouth.  I clicked and treated for targeting the wormer, and then for holding his head still while I put my fingers into the corner of his lips, and then for accepting the wormer tube right inside his mouth.  It was only maybe three 10 minute sessions but he's got it nailed. A few more practice tries with the empty tube and then I'll give him his first 'proper' drench tomorrow (he's always just had it in his feed before).  

Tama's whanau

On Sunday 25 November we went on a trip out onto the Kaimanawa Ranges to see the horses in the wild.  What an amazing day!

We saw LOTS of horses, and they all looked really healthy.  The musters are obviously doing the trick with keeping the numbers down, and it's clearly benefiting the herd.

I had no idea how big the Waiouru Training Area was - it's 63,000 HECTARES.  Unreal.  It's also  far more beautiful than I was expecting - when you drive down the Desert Rd it seems like just endless scrub and desert, but the scenery was actually quite spectacular.

Click on the photos to see them larger.

Crystal clear views out to the mountain

Awash in the grasses

We counted over 40 horses on this hillside

These two were my favourites.  Just gorgeous.

No skinny horses or dull coats to be seen - aren't they looking great!

Dreadlocks look good on pirates

(Not ponies).

Well, that'll teach me for complaining about how hairy he was and saying that I wished he would hurry up and moult.

He moulted, all right.  He dropped his coat pretty much overnight, and during a period of heavy rain.  The end result: dreadlocks all over.  Not such a good look.

Here's some rather embarrassing pictures of Tama before and after an initial grooming session:

After several more grooming sessions he now has only a few of the tighter mats left on his more sensitive areas (tummy and flanks).  I don't want to pull those out because they'll hurt him.  I'll wait until he finishes his moult and then they should just fall out.

He currently looks a little like a very well-loved teddy bear, with some patches of long hair and some that are very short.  (I think the teddy bear simile is kinder than "moth eaten" which is also a good description and no less accurate!).

Even though I've been focusing a lot of attention on the new foal, we've had some good training sessions lately and Tama now backs up on a hand signal.

New baby brother

Tama's adopted mum, Honey, has just arrived home with her new foal.  His name is Minstrel (his daddy is a Gypsy Cob).

Tama and Hokey Pokey are fascinated, and quite annoyed that they're stuck on the other side of the fence so they can't check him out properly.  But they're going to stay separate for a few weeks at least, mostly to make life easier while Honey is being fed twice a day ('cos needless to say, the boys are not being fed at all!).

In other news, I have done  another couple of lengthy sessions desensitising Tama to the hose, and we're starting to get somewhere.  Last weekend we got to the point where I was able to wet his chest and legs with the hose, but he still wasn't happy about it at all.  He really has a bee in his bonnet about this; seems ironic to me that he has been so laid back about everything else (having his feet held, being restrained, getting on a float, etc) yet the hose is just such an obstacle.
As the weather improves I'll do a bit more with him.  I suspect we're almost there.

This weekend was the Kaimanawa ribbon day... I was intending to take him along for some socialising but it's a terribly windy day and I'm trying to get an assignment finished so decided not to go.  Plus he's had virtually no handling in the last couple of weeks because I've started a new job in town which means I don't get home until quite late every evening.  As a result (and I'm sure the sugary grass isn't helping either) he's going through a bit of a "phase". AKA, being an annoying teenager.  So all in all, better to wait until the next opportunity for an outing.