Monday...

From Jim: Monday was filled with the usual stuff. The calves were out this morning. The were totally unimpressed with the equines of the backyard bunch. Harley and General, old rodeo horses, gave it their very best shot and the boys were good for one short run. Banjo emphasized his unwillingness to play cowboy games by staging an eat-in. Harley, confused by this resistance, gave up and joined Banjo's movement. There they were, head to head, vacuuming up hay. Julian, bawled a couple of times and went back to doing calf stuff. General went on to other things. A little while later, Julian asked to be let back into his own corral and with a call or two from me, Banjo joined him. I checked the fence. It was working, but the ground is so dry the effects are minimal. I'm not going to run a separate ground wire right now, so I guess the calves will have their way with the fence till it rains. Spent some time this morning petting critters. Quest loves to have his bottom scratched. He'll follow you around in reverse, and shift around until you are getting just the right spot. He's a funny guy! One of our new Arabians, who came labeled "hard to catch" is now hard to avoid. He fully expects to loved on anytime you're around. The new mules have both been petted. Their "hard to catch" days will soon be over too. It's hard to overstate the power of just being with these animals two or three times a day. That, and the herd's behavior, which states clearly, "this place is OK". I believe there's real value to round ring work, but I think having a strong relationship first is important. Respect and dominance are readily accepted by equines. Trust and confidence are too. We like the "T-touch" for calming leery critters. Just something about those fingertip circles that horses find relaxing. We work on name recognition, but try to keep the chatter to a minimum. A lot of verbalization is wasted on equines. They're a pretty quiet type of animal. I use my hat to shoo critters out of the way. You'd think they would get nervous about my hat when it's on my head. Nope, they figure if it's on my head, there's no shooing going on. Our critters shoo, but they are not afraid. They accept being made to move but know they won't be harmed. I'm pretty sure the new animals can tell by herd's state of mind that they're safe. We don't rush with this type of ground work. Time is on our side and hurrying just makes for unnecessary upsets. We aim for critters that want to get caught, will lead with a piece of bailing twine, and stand quietly until you ask them to move. We don't tie hard and fast and look for a ground tie when we're done. We make sure that our animals are clear on what we want. This all takes time and nothing else will do. Progress can be very slow. Patience is absolutely a requirement. With equines, emotions are contagious. Get mad and upset and your horse will believe it and be afraid and upset-doesn't make for a good student. Stay calm, quiet, focused and patient and wonderful things can and do happen. You can't "like" your way into a horse's mind, but you can become a respected teacher if you deserve it. Being around animals all of the time sure keeps you humble. It sure a good thing they're so forgiving.