July 14, 2011

 He's cutting his second set of incisors, top and bottom, at the moment. All the better to bite you with, as Dracula said...
Jake had his first 5 minute training session: halter on, halter off, halter on, halter off. Repeat. No big deal. Resist the urge to grab the halter for any reason - he hasn't learned what it's for yet! 
Halter training is more than just putting a halter on and hanging onto a rope while he bounces around. It's about putting that halter on and taking it off without any concern from him. It's about teaching him to give to light pressure, setting the precedent for how lightly I would like him to respond to my requests in the future. Eventually it will be about him being comfortable touching his legs, lifting them and allowing him to learn to balance on three legs comfortably and confidently, and learning to walk beside me, one step at a time. I'll spend the next week with him, about five or 10 minutes a day, to get him ready for his first trim in a few weeks.
Other than that, he's low maintenance, high entertainment value.
To those of you with foals, please DO NOT LEAVE A HALTER ON YOUR FOAL! (or a flymask - they can stand under their mother's tail to get fly relief) They will get caught in something and they don't have the reasoning or the training to work it out. They can strangle themselves or break their neck, especially if you're using a hay feeder. It does happen and it's just not worth it! They can get in enough trouble without us setting them up for it.
Okay, that's my soapbox for the day.