Give it a Whorl!

Absolutely AWFUL weather today! The ponies had finished all of their hay & were looking rather pleased to see me this morning. I gave them a slice each while I mucked out & I noticed that they'd had a bit of a pick at the hardfeed too. Not a lot but then I shouldn't think it will take them too long once they start experimenting.

Once the yard was clean, very quietly, for the first time, I separated them. Mojo's composure almost left him completely & he had a bit of a snorty panic around the smaller yard when I shut the gate, while young Whorl went into a whirl in the front yard. I quietly stepped out & grabbed another couple of slices of hay. By the time I came back in (all of 30 seconds!), they were standing quietly & Mojo completely forgot what he'd been worried about once he spotted the hay.

Whorl thought it was most unfair that he wasn't getting hay too & he got a bit flustered & confused when I asked him to move around the yard instead. After a full circuit of the yard at a brisk walk, he had the idea & didn't panic when I placed my poplar branch on his back. I mean he REALLY didn't panic, not even a little bit...he might have been a bit concerned initially (clamped his wee tail to his bum a bit) but he didn't quicken his pace & he relaxed as soon as he realised that it wasn't going to hurt him.

I let it just rest on his rump while he walked around me & the second he stopped, I pulled the stick away & backed off a step. Well that was it! Whorl instantly went, "Oh, ok...so all I do is stop? Got it!!"

He then stood like an absolute GEM while I did lots of advance & retreat with my poplar branch & stroked right along his topline, under his chin, down his neck & chest & down the backs of all 4 x legs. BRILLIANT! That was the off-side done in less than 10 minutes & he'd been such a star! I gave him a wee break while I went off to pick him some fresh grass as a reward. Once he'd had some of that, I asked him to move again so we could do the same thing on the nearside.

"Nuh-Uh!" "That's NOT what you taught me! I stand here, you come up THIS side!" No matter how hard I tried to convince Whorl that he can do the same thing on the other side too, as far as he was concerned, ONE lesson at a time & that's a WHOLE new lesson! I managed to get him to stand & was able to get almost all the way around behind him & onto the nearside with my branch but he was determined to turn his head & keep me in his other eye. Hehehe. Fair enough!! He was SO good with everything asked of him, I wasn't going to push the point & he'd already tried SO hard for me!

Mojo actually seemed mildly amused watching Whorl as he munched hay from his ringside seat. In fact, he was quite happy to sleep through most of the action when he'd had his fill of hay. That was until Whorl & I were obviously finished...you should have seen his face! LOL He looked mortified when he saw me walking towards him. "What the?! Don't go getting any funny ideas lady! I am SO not doing that stuff!!" We both agreed that he's not quite ready to be touched like that & then we both agreed that we could stand a little bit closer to each other than we did earlier this morning.

By dinnertime tonight, we'd had some HUGE changes! Whorl isn't scared of me anymore, wary yes, but not scared & he came 'to' me tonight instead of automatically stepping away & doing a big circle. Mojo didn't have to leave the big yard either & was able to let me stand REALLY close without looking worried.

It's hard to believe it's only a week since they were mustered. In that week, they've been chased by helicopters into yards, been drafted by humans & ripped away from their families, put onto trucks with horses they don't know & shipped into more yards to be further drafted, onto more trucks & into homes. Aside from all the travelling, they've had to cope with confinement (something they have NEVER experienced before & had no concept of), people, drenching, a complete change in diet plus all manner of human related things! If they were human, they'd need years of therapy & drugs to cope with their post traumatic stress disorder, yet we expect them to just 'handle' whatever we throw at them & we push to see how much we can get away with before it's too much.

I am SO proud of what Whorl has accomplished today but I'm equally proud of Mojo. It's a difficult thing for a stallion to lose his band as that's all that he lives for. It's very easy for these older boys to get grumpy & depressed once they realise that the horrible dream is reality & this is now 'their lot'. He's tried hard this past week to 'wish me away' (if he doesn't acknowledge me, I'm not really there, right?) but I'm still there & now, very slowly, he's starting to deal with me. I know food will be his saviour! I just need him to get a taste for hardfeed & I'm sure, he'll decide I'm not so bad after all. Hehehe.