12.2.2005 What claustrophobia? How many times have I heard that horses are often difficult to load because they are naturally claustrophobic. Not this one! As so often on weekends I had the horses in the back yard to mow the lawn, when Ben was suddenly gone. Strangely enough, Tiquita didn't seem to be nervous about that. Well, no surprise! He wasn't too far away, just in a place that's a bit unusual for a horse: underneath our house, or more precisely: the deck I had been standing on. Obviously he doesn't mind venturing into dark spaces and having something above his head - but the other day he refused to walk between our two sheds, which are probably 2m apart. Looks like he's only 'horizontally claustrophobic'! Working on that!

Ben underneath our house

Ben and Benji This foto was taken almost a year later (Christmas 2005), when our friends picked Benji up after his 'Christmas Holidays' with us. Deja vue!

13.2.2005 An exciting day! At lunchtime we took the mares into the creek for a little cool off. After standing at the bank for a while and watching us, Ben decided to join us in the water - with a big splash! After a bit of sniffing, pawing and drinking, he jumped in and out a couple more times, but in the end, the long grass on the banks was more interesting. In the afternoon, friends of ours with their dog came to visit. Ben was very interested in that black furry thing, but didn't dare to come closer. Later on, we took all four, dog and three horses, for a walk. Ben's first venture into the wide world! He was very excited and interested, and didn't care whether mom could keep up with him or not. There were more important things than mom! His preferred gait today was a lovely paso llano. On the road you could clearly hear his paca-paca. Yup, he'll be a fun riding horse one day, for sure! Once we were back home, we had a drink & chat on the veranda, with our friend's dog lying on the edge of the veranda and the horses grazing in the front yard. At some stage Ben came closer and started sniffing the dog. Ben the horse and Benji the dog checking each other out, noses touching...

6.3.2005 First separation. I've tried to do some ground work with Tiquita recently, but with Ben either getting in our way or trying to play with Tiquita it was pretty much impossible. So I decided to leave Ben with Henna in the yard today. After a bit of whinnying and running around, he settled down and was much more interested in Gerald, who was trying to take photos, than in the fact that his mom was gone...

Ben with his 'surrogate mom' Henna

Ben behaving...

18.3.2005 Learning to stand tied. Over the last couple of weeks we have practiced leading and I was confident that Ben had understood the basics of yielding to pressure - so it was time to introduce the little guy to standing tied. We are using big gum trees (about 15m tall) with a ring and some sturdy rope as our posts. However, for Ben I initially used a lead rope fastened to the tree with a panic knot - just in case. He did try to pull, but soon realised that the effort was invain. Besides, every time he stood there quietly he was praised and scratched... And during times when nobody was around (well, where he couldn't see us), he found other entertainment: trying to open up the knot in the lead rope.

25.3.2005 Rasping the hooves. I wanted to prepare Ben for his first farrier appointment, which was approaching fast. Ben was by now well and truly used to having his feet picked up and his hooves cleaned. So when Gerald rasped each hoof a couple of times, there was no protest at all. Our farrier Brad is a very quiet and patient man, so I was confident that there would be no drama. And I was right! When our farrier did Ben's feet a few days later, Ben was all 'been there, done that'. No worries!

27.3.2005 Unplanned lesson in leading. After their morning grains I decided to let the horses into the other paddock. For some reason Ben missed the mares' departure and ended up on the wrong side of the fence at the back end of the paddock, a long way away from the gate. Since I didn't want him to go through the fence - which he had done before - I tried to direct him towards the gate. But to no avail. He kept racing off and circling around, getting back to where we had started. I didn't have any halter or lead rope with me; I didn't even have a belt - only the jumper I was wearing. So I rolled that up, put it around Ben's neck and started applying a bit of pressure. It didn't take him long to figure out what I was asking for, and he took a few steps forward. We had made our way about halfway to the gate, when he decided to try his 'escape and circle' tactics again. Although Ben put quite some force into it, I didn't let go. He settled down again quickly, and we went back to heading for the gate in an orderly manner, but with Ben now whinnying loudly. Once at the gate I gave the little fellow a quick scratch, took off the jumper - and he raced off at full gallop, tail in the air, towards the mares who had been ignoring us completely. And I was left standing at the gate, deeply impressed with my gorgeous colt.

28.3.2005 Breakfast on the tarp. Every now and then when I clean out the hay shed, I put some of the loose hay out in the paddock on a tarp for the horses. The first time I did that, Tiquita was so scared of the tarp that she didn't dare to come close - despite the fact that Henna was standing ON the tarp, happily munching. So I was quite curious what Ben would do at his first encounter with a large, yellow, rustling plastic thing. Well, he wasn't quite sure what to think of it in the beginning, but when he saw both mares eating from it and stepping on it - Tiquita had overcome her fear eventually - Ben decided that it couldn't be all that bad and started to investigate with nose and hooves. And before long, he was standing there, happily munching his breakfast.

On the tarp

18.6.2005 Over the last couple of weeks I've been 'horsing around' with Ben whenever I had time - which was pretty much only on weekends, since by now it's usually dark when we get home from work (hate those winter days). I've been throwing all sorts of things at Ben, sometimes literally, and he has done really really well. However, plastic bags and anything that rustles (like Gerald's rain coat) are still highly suspicious to him, but we'll keep working on that! And as you can see in the photos, Henna was usually taking part in the action... entertainment for two...

Walking across the tarp                                     New use for an old sheet                                   Introduction to the 'drum'

The pony team

26.6.2005 Ponying. Taking a youngster along for a ride is not only great exercise for the horse, but also a perfect preparation for life under saddle. And there's no reason why you can't put down the basics as soon as a foal leads OK. After having done some preparatory goundwork the day before, I initially rode Henna while Gerald was leading Ben right next to us. After a few minutes I took over Ben's lead rope. And as so often before, I was very impressed with our horses. Although it was a first for both of them, they did really great! Ben didn't pull me out of the saddle and I only had to correct him once for nipping Henna on the shoulder. And Henna just behaved like an old pro....

31.7.2005 Bicycles. Both mares are not really comfortable with bicycles, so I asked Gerald to grab his mountain bike and go for a ride in the paddock, while I grabbed the camera. As expected, the mares were a bit nervous, but Ben just thought it was great entertainment! He thoroughly checked out that strange thing, and when Gerald cycled off, Ben followed him around for a while, then raced off kicking and bucking, just to come back and nibble a bit on the tyres. Sure was fun to watch!

Ben, Gerald and the bike

In the tarp tunnel

10.9.2005 More tarp fun and a date with the vet. We had cleaned our big tarp the day before and it was now hanging on the clothes line to dry, so I thought I should take advantage of that unusual obstacle. After having a good look at the big blue thing, Ben joined me in the tarp tunnel for a carrot. Before long I could lead him through the tunnel without any problems. And when I checked on him some time after the end of our 'tarp session', he was happily standing in the tunnel, nibbling some grass. From about mid morning on Ben was quite a sad looking little fellow - after a meeting with our vet and his gelding implements. Fortunately, Ben recovered pretty fast and was back to his bouncy, cheeky self in the evening.

17.9.2005 Lunging. Despite our efforts to exercise him sufficiently, Ben developed a swelling a few days after being gelded. Walking him obviously wasn't enough - and chasing him around in our 'dressage arena' was getting more and more difficult, since he had by now perfected the art of just slipping under the fence and escaping. I'm not a fan of lunging at all, especially with young horses, but it seemed to be time to teach our little escape artist to lunge. It only took him a few minutes to understand what was required. However, that doesn't mean it's all smooth sailing now! Ben doesn't like to track right and will use any inattention of the lunger to turn around... I guess that makes lunging more interesting for both of us! ;-)

On the lunge line

Ben on the ramp

1.10.2005 First encounter with a float. Friends of ours had parked a float in our yard for the day. As usual Ben wanted to check out that new thing in his territory. However, when one of the mares stepped onto the ramp, he got scared by the noise and raced off. He came back a few minutes later, but was very reluctant to step onto the ramp. After a while of trying invain, I took him over to our drum and asked him to mount it. No problem! Back at the trailer I asked him to 'mount' the ramp. And without hesitation he stepped up with his front legs, giving me this 'ahh, that's what you wanted me to do!'-look. Before long he was walking up the ramp and backing down without problems - all without a halter. Next time we'll practice closing the float...

13.11.2005 Kneeling for the first time. Over the past couple of weeks we've been working on kneeling on command. Ben knows exactly what it's all about, but he's so over-eager that he usually has lost balance before he's made it all the way to the ground. But today he actually managed to kneel! Again it was only for a second - just enough for Gerald to take a foto - before he lost balance and jumped up again, but hey, he's got a few more years to practice until I'll ask for this exercise under saddle! I have to admit that trick training a horse does have some 'drawbacks' (well, not really). Ben now sometimes offers kneeling when I only want to clean his hooves. I'm sure over time we'll both figure out how to talk to each other.

Kneeling for the first time

On the 'bridge'

30.11.2005 Fun with the 'bridge'. I found a few sturdy boards in one of our many wood piles and decided to make a 'bridge' (remembering the drama I had with my beloved Icelandic when we encountered his first wooden bridge). Unfortunately, my 'bridge' turned out a bit short - just long enough for the horses to get all four hooves on it. Still, good fun. Ben first thought he was supposed to jump it, so he sat down on his hind legs in a beautiful levade - from which he jumped the bridge with one mighty leap! Next time around I took one front hoof and put it on the bridge. And with another of his 'ahh, that's what you wanted me to do!'-looks he stepped on....

10.12.2005 Ben's first ride in a float. After our first successfull adventure with a horse float, I wanted to take it a bit further and actually take Ben for a ride in the float. The first day we just practiced loading, unloading, closing the tailgait, opening the tail gait - no problems at all. As so often we were working without a halter. At one stage I left Ben standing behind the float and went up to the front to tie up the front door. Suddenly the float started swaying a bit - Ben had loaded himself. The second day we actually drove around the property for a few minutes. Ben clearly didn't quite know what to think of all that noise and movement, but stayed reasonably calm and got used to it relatively quickly. Most of the excitement actually came from the mares. They had seen us loading Ben and as soon as the float began to move, they both started running around and calling him at the top of their lungs (which for Henna is pretty much unheard of).

More float training

17.12.2005 Christmas fotos. I wanted to send out Christmas emails with a horsey foto, so I took our good old Santa hat out into the pasture. I had been trying to teach Ben to pick up things for a while, but he didn't really catch on to that new game. The Santa hat did the trick! I don't know whether it was the smell or the furry texture of that hat, but Ben just loved it! And as usual, Henna wanted to be part of the fun.

Ben in the dam

22.1.2006 Summer fun. Queensland summer has truely hit, and Henna just loves to go for a cooling swim in the the dam or summer creek. Thanks to her, Ben has taken to the waters, too. It's just too funny to watch our two hippos splash around, roll in the water or just stand in there for 20 minutes and enjoy the cool! (After a lot of convincing, I can now lead Tiquita into the water and she'll enjoy the cool-off, but she'd never go in on her own, so Ben couldn't have learned it from his mom.)

Splashing fun

Sunday morning walk

12.2.2006 Going for a walk. Gerald's parents were here for a holiday, and one Sunday morning we took the crowd for a walk to a nearby bushland. We had to walk along a rather busy road to get there, and the first couple of cars coming up from behind did make Ben jump a bit, but he soon got used to the traffic and was much more interested in other things around him. He insisted on leading our little procession, with the mares trailing behind, and seemed to thouroughly enjoy it. Gerald's dad (not a horsey person at all) was quite impressed with Tiquita's lovely manners and Gerald's mom was very busy taking lots of fotos. Entertainment for everyone!

5.3.2006 Flapping in the wind. We've had a couple of pretty windy days - perfect for getting the horses used to flapping things. When I put up that feed bag, Ben was pretending to concentrate on a particularly tasty patch of grass just a few meters away, watching me out of the corner of his eye (but of course not admitting that he was interested). He wasn't quite sure what to think about it, but it didn't take him long to come over and have a sniff. Later in the afternoon I asked him to walk through that 'curtain'. By that time the wind had changed from a constant blow to gusts, which made it a bit more interesting. One moment the bag was hanging there motionless, the next it was flapping around wildly. No problem for Ben! He just followed me through the curtain, stopped underneath and just acted as if that was absolutely normal.

Walking under the bag

6.5.2006 The move. For the last year I have been talking about sending Ben off to 'Kindergarden' so he could grow up with other young horses, play, squabble and race his little heart out. Well, this Saturday morning it finally happened. We took Ben to an agistment place not too far from us. For the next while Ben will be living in a 30 acre pasture with 8 other horses, mares and geldings aged between one and three years. I was pretty worried about the move, but it turned out to be no problem at all. Ben walked onto and travelled on the float like an old pro. On the other end he got off the float calmly, without any rush. Once in the paddock with his new mates he did get a bit worried, though. He wasn't all that good at following the horsey introduction protocol and got chased around quite a bit. In the end he fled whenever another horse tried to approach him. Only the little paint gelding in the foto below was allowed to come closer...

7.5.2006 The move II. We went to check up on Ben the next morning. It looked like he had settled in OK. The older horses, particularly the bay mare in the foto above, were still chasing him around every now and then, but only half heartedly. And Ben didn't race off like yesterday - he just got out of their way and returned to his business. While we were there, Ben went for a splash in the dam and played with his new friend. He had indeed buddied up with the little paint and the two of them seemed to enjoy their boy's games.

To be continued....