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