First Couple of Days

It was fascinating to see how quickly Disco learned over the weekend. And how much I enjoyed the baby steps that is, well, training babies.

Meeting his temporary (for a month) 24 year old pasturemate Zippy and 19 year old pasturemate Missy

Since I took every shift last weekend, I had 48 hours to figure out what he needed to know in order to start being handled by co-op members starting Monday morning, although mentally I was allowing myself two weeks of being at the barn for every single shift to handle him myself if necessary. 

I started making a list in my head. He needed to:

• Learn the routine of when we eat and when we go in and out
• Stand quietly to have his halter put on, ideally over his ears
• Lead reasonably well
• Not be startled by anything on the short walk from his stall to the pasture
• Allow people to walk up to him in the field

 

On Day 1, you could tell the routine was foreign to him. He didn't know what to expect next, and that put him on edge. He startled at the sound of the chain clanging against the pipe gate, for example. Almost all of his startles were in place except for one that he took a couple of backward steps over - but he stopped when he felt the halter hit his head and took a step forward, which was an AWESOME reaction.

He checked out the paint mare's udder right away as if to nurse, and she was like "F*** NO, KID!" and that was that.

 

That night we did a lot of practice taking the halter on and off in his stall. Halter on, treat, chew, halter off, rinse, repeat. I'm not going to let him get pushy about taking treats, but I'm doing everything in my power to make his first week as pleasant as possible.

Zippy used to babysit QH weanlings years ago, so he's enjoying this, I think

By Sunday morning, you could tell he knew the routine and was a lot more confident and comfortable. He walked straight out to the field without needing to stop and think about anything, and went straight to grazing with Zippy, his new BFF. So far, so good, at least with me doing all of the handling over the weekend!