Evaluating and getting to know Saint Croix and Cowboy

I’ve been getting to know the two new horses and evaluate what they know and how they react. They are both settling in and getting more comfortable in their surroundings. Saint Croix can sometimes be hard to catch but once you do he is easy to handle. He is getting better each day and is overall quite friendly.

Last night they were turned out with Jovi and all three horses got along and did well together. Jovi has let them know that the middle stall in the barn is his and they are being totally respectful of that. There doesn’t seem to be anybody trying to be dominate and Saint Croix and Cowboy are both happy to share their hay and mashes, often eating nose to nose.

I have been managing to get fly masks on them each day. I haven’t yet tried to fly spray them but they have let me wipe some spray on them with a cloth.

Today I put Jovi and Cowboy on the hi-ties on the trailer and tied Saint Croix up to the hitching post with a tie blocker ring. So basically none of the horse are hard tied as the velcro on the hi-ties will come undone if a horse pulls hard enough. Cowboy did test it once but didn’t pull hard and quickly went forward and realized his limitation. Eventually once I know they both lead and tie well with halters we’ll begin training them to go in neck collars.

I think it always helps a new horse learn by watching the older more experienced horses. Jovi is easy because if you put food in front of him he is going to eat and not be bothered by anything.

Each of the new horses did spend a little time learning the limitations of being tied. They also both are quite interested in eating so dove into their hay bags that I had full of hay for them.

The next thing was to pick up each of their feet and pick them out then see how they would do if I used a rasp. I have previously been picking up a foot here and there, and also have tried on boots to see what size they would take. Both horses were great about letting me pick out their feet and Saint Croix even let me nip out a bit of overhanging frog on a hind foot. They both let me rasp each of their feet for a minute and that went well. I don’t want to ask for too much yet so we’ll just do some repetition each day with handling and getting them comfortable.

After that session I put each horse away one at a time to see how the others would react. Cowboy was the last one and he just put his head in the hay bag and kept eating, he wasn’t bothered at all.

For now I’m not going to leave anybody tied up unless I am out there with them.