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.