Marvellous Mojo & Wonderful Whorl!

What a GREAT afternoon! The sun has been shining all day & the boys were quite 'up' in their mood & VERY relaxed while I was mucking out. I literally had to muck out around them! The rake had been even closer to Whorl's feet, prior to me picking up the camera. Even Mojo was able to confidently hold his ground today. Amazing!

I touched Whorl's shoulder (gave it a good rub) 3 x times! Yay Whorl! :-D I didn't manage to get a photo though sorry! :-( And no, this isn't like 'the one that got away'. Ha! Ha! Whorl is suspicious of the camera. When I take my attention off him to look through the camera, I lose focus & he loses confidence in what I'm doing. These ponies are fantastic at demonstrating how committed you need to be to each task. If you're not 'in the zone', they get a bit confused & worried. Everything you see in the photos, I have done at least once before I've picked up the camera & I don't pick up the camera until the horse is completely comfortable with what I want to photograph. They need to be up to that additional pressure & although Whorl managed to let me in there 3 x times, I knew he wouldn't quite be up to having the camera there as well. Maybe tomorrow? Maybe next week? Who knows...? Right now, he's an absolute wee GEM, yet again!! I'm SO proud of him! Here's what got him to that point today...

Touching him ALL over the offside again today.

And look! We finally gained an understanding about the nearside too. :-)

Although Mojo was wary, he managed to hold his ground & allowed me to stroke him with the stick a few times too.

Thankfully, not all of his stroking involved him jamming himself in the corner & trying to ignore me. This is what he resorted to when I got out the camera but he was still pretty relaxed for Mojo. Oh, & look; no Whorl between me & him! ;-)

Wet, Cold & Mud!

Ok, so it's been DAYS since my last update but the weather up here has been foul! After needing several changes of clothes just to muck out the yards each day, I couldn't deal with standing out there in the horizontal rain, working with the boys too. I don't want to spend all the fine days catching up on mountains of washing when I could be playing with horses! LOL

It's still been really good for them both just having me wandering around the yard behind them, in & out with the wheel barrow, throwing the rake & shovel over the rails, etc. They've also had a couple of visitors which has given them new challenges. Dealing with one person in the yard is one thing but dealing with two is just downright scary!

Whorl is starting to get quite bold & even took the initiative to have a wee taste of my hand yesterday without grass in it. I'm loving this boy more & more each day! He's going to be a FANTASTIC little horse! He's so sensible, confident  & curious; everything I adore in a horse.

The jury is still out on Mojo...he's coming ahead in leaps & bounds considering he's had almost no pressure at all put upon him. He still eyes me suspiciously from the other side of the yard but he's a LOT more relaxed & walks away from me rather than scooting past with his tail clamped to his backside. I've still been trying hard to get glimpses of his teeth so I can get a better idea of his age. What I thought looked like 4 yo corners, didn't look like that when I was having a better look last night. As a 4yo, he would have been very lucky to keep any mares in the wild & it's pretty obvious this boy has been successful in that area, so I'm now guessing his age somewhere between 4 & 7. Only time (& a good equine dentist) will tell but feel free to start the sweepstake. Hehehe. Whorl will need to see a dentist as soon as possible too as he seems to have a lot of difficulty eating. He looks to me like he has sharp edges that are causing him to bite his cheeks, poor little man!

I've managed to separate them briefly a couple of times now too. Whorl thinks that's GREAT as he has food to himself & doesn't have Mojo bullying & bossing him around the yards. Mojo on the other hand, thinks it's a BAD, BAD idea!!!! Lone horse = certain & most imminent death!! He's survived twice now so hopefully, he'll soon realise that the predictable outcome is quite different from his initial instinct! LOL

We managed a brief session last night before dark & I was really pleased with how the boys handled it. My husband was in the yard with us all, taking the photos which was a HUGE deal for Mojo & made Whorl more than a little uneasy too. It's something they really need to get used to though as it's far too easy for these horses to bond with just one person. Mojo & Whorl will need to be well socialised to cope with new homes at some stage, so they need to be comfortable with lots of different people. I've learned this the hard way in the past, when I've handled horses for other people. What is a quiet 'donkey' for me, reverts to a snorting, eye rolling wild horse when they meet their owner & it then takes a week of work to transition them off me & onto the new person. It's all VERY confusing & upsetting for the horse & demoralising for the owner so I don't want to have to go through that with these boys. I'm making sure that they get to meet LOTS of different people throughout the entire process so the only basket case when they leave will be ME!

Whorl is quite ok about being touched with the stick but we still have to work on that nearside. He's been an absolute STAR at 'protecting' big, brave (*cough*) Mojo & giving him confidence when I sneak in the odd stroke of the stick across his back too. I can get in two strokes & he's able to hold himself together, if I back off quickly straight after. Every day is progress in the right direction & I already know that Mojo will take some time & that's fine by me! I'm fortunate that I don't have to rush him & we can do everything in 'Mojo-time' which will get us to where we need to be with a much better result, I feel. His expression in the photos says it all! Just doing what he's doing & coping daily is about all he can manage right now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH0QJdVc9TY

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.

Hardfeed & Humans

Woohoo! We had a GREAT session this morning! Mojo is in a MUCH better mood today & is a lot more relaxed so he isn't beating up on Whorl quite so much now.

This morning brought a lot of 'firsts'...

1. I decided to start introducing hard feed so began by placing their hay in a fishbin. They've had their hay on the ground up until now so the plastic bin was a bit, "OMG!" for them. Little Whorl, being the star he is, was first to check it out (& scare himself. LOL) but Mojo was surprisingly, close behind him.

2. Not only is their hay in a strange plastic bin, it also has soaked gumnuts all over the top of it so there'll be no avoiding ALL of them. Hehehehe. As they fall through the hay, the bottom of the fish bin catches them so they'll be able to mop up the dregs when the hay is all gone. I think by then, Whorl will have a taste for them at least.

3. Mojo decided today that the temptation of grass is stronger than his fear of me. He even managed to touch me & keep his composure! What's different about today than yesterday.... ??

I have a camera today! Who loves ya baby??!!

Macho, broody poses to follow... (cue Mojo)

You KNOW you want me!

Whorl is a natural in front of the camera too! Although he's more of a character actor than a sex symbol.

Here's his interpretation of 'ecstasy eating grass'. I thought he was choking!

Looking cute.

Being brave. (See his whorl?)

We'll see what our afternoon session brings...

The boys at the Huntly yards...

Here are some photos taken of the boys while they were at the Huntly yards.

Above: Shy, unassuming little Whorl.

Below: Mojo & 'his' mares. Although he guarded the hay pile as much as he guarded the mares. Hehehe.

Technology FAIL!

Well I started our video diary today. I figured it would be a good way to view progress & get a feel for what is actually involved with domesticating a wild horse.

There's actually some quite interesting moments in the footage; the boys are already cottoning on to the mucking out routine & obligingly moved into the other yard without even being asked. Little Whorl, as quiet & unassuming as he's trying to be in the overwhelming presence of Mojo, is rapidly gaining confidence & is being a VERY brave young man!

He came striding confidently into the big yard all by himself today, straight past me & over to the fresh grass. You could see the look of triumph on his face, "Ha! Ha! Phew! Look at me, she didn't kill me!" "IN YOUR FACE MOJO!"

Mojo, on the other hand, is a typical mature stallion (a.k.a. complete WUSS unless forced to act otherwise!) He's very aware of his obvious importance & celebrity & so it seems, he's employed a somewhat unwilling Whorl as body guard. Apparently Whorl's job is to stay between me & Mojo at all times. Mojo deftly shuffles & jostles Whorl into position before diving under cover behind him. He's devastatingly skilled at positioning Whorl perfectly so he can freely move between the food & water supplies without getting near me at all.

When I do pay attention to Mojo & offer him fresh grass & feed, he goes into an Oscar winning broody sulk that Johnny Depp would be proud of. It is much easier to switch off & pretend I don't exist & maintain one's cool, charsimatic composure. The alternative is to acknowledge my close presence & attention & absolutely lose the plot which would SO damage the image! I'm happy to leave him with his rep intact at this stage & work with a more willing, Whorl.

The video footage explains this all so much better but it's so long since I've used the camera, I've forgotten how to get it off there (I think there's a cable?) & onto the computer (I'm sure there's a cable!) I'll take more video tomorrow & sometime soon (Dammit! Where IS that cable?!) I'll start loading it to the blog so you can see for yourself what I'm blathering on about.

I've charged the still camera batteries too so I'll have back up, unlike today. *blush*

I need LOTS of video & photos so all the ladies can drool over Mojo apparently. Ha! Ha! Ha! Seems his macchismo is as effective on the human girls as it is the horse girls. He's had LOTS of offers of new homes & fillies to flirt with, already! Oh well, he can keep gathering fan mail & brooding in his corner while young Whorl lives life on the edge & starts fraternising with humans.

Getting To Know You...

Although these guys arrived late Sunday afternoon, I haven't had much time with them yet as yesterday was spent delivering another 4 x horses around Northland.

All these boys have had so far is me popping in & out of the yard delivering hay & water so it was time to get in there this morning & get a bit of housework done! I got both yards mucked out around them & they soon stopped worrying too much about the wheelbarrow & me with shovel & rake. They even coped when a friend popped in to visit & stood just outside the yards with me still inside with them. This upset them greatly yesterday (when husband was outside taking photos & I was inside putting down fresh hay) so we have already made progress.

Normally, when handling Kaimanawas for other people, I'm working to a bit of a deadline & often need to progress a little quicker than I would usually like. There is no huge hurry for these boys though & the grey fella really does need some chill time so all I'm asking of them right now, is to 'cope' with me around.

I'm doing short stints of wandering down to the yards & mucking around, all the while chatting away to them. Whorl would probably be quite interested in saying hello but the older boy (I'm thinking of nicknaming him 'Mojo' while he's here) keeps telling him it's a REALLY bad idea to show any interest in those two legged creatures that make lots of unnecessary noise. Each session is only 10 minutes or so but they're both finding it easier & easier & getting braver & braver each time I step into the yard.

Hopefully, it won't be long before they can begin to venture out of the yard but for now, that's the safest place for them. To help keep them a little bit happier, I'm handpicking grass for them each time I wander down to them too which little Whorl thinks is a FABULOUS idea! Hard feed will be the next introduction...

Judging by the size of Mojo, I suspect he'll be VERY food motivated & should begin to show some interest once he realises there's a meal in it for him. Just getting him off the truck was a challenge! He got to the bottom of the ramp & found grass in the loading race & there he stopped! Poor wee Whorl was left halfway up the ramp & I had to use the flag (plastic bag on a stick) to get Mojo to lift his head & move into the yard.

Plantain might well be good for horses but it seems, just like us, they don't always 'like' what's good for them. They have eaten all the grass out of the yards but have very obviously left all the plantain. I must have look next time I'm out in the Ranges & see if it grows there. Most of the other common pasture species do but maybe they just haven't come across plantain before?

Another point of interest...

I've not encountered this before but one of our reps is on town water & the horses weren't keen on the chlorine. All was fixed by adding a bit of a dirt & a few rocks to the water bins to disguise the taste. This did the trick & they all drank up large after that! It's VERY important to take notice of the little things when you first get wild horses. Take notice of the little things & you'll hopefully avoid any big problems.