I am so pleased with Chickory! The last few days, she has really come around. I still have to send her into the "trap" to get the halter on her, and it is quite funny to see her try to evade by sticking her head through the panels, but she does let me halter her, brush her, and doctor her leg. The strange thing is that she doesn't mind being handled; no fight in her, and even in the close quarters of the little pen, she has never once offered to kick. Not a mean bone in her body. Yesterday I worked on getting her to accept me on her right side; I leaned over her when brushing so that she could see me in her right eye, then when I was brushing her face, I slowly worked my way over til I was standing just to her right. I could see her thinking, trying to decide if this was acceptable; apparently it was, because she didn't turn like she normally did. So I left it at that, then moved on to the next challenge: leading! I opened up the panels and asked her to follow me up to her shelter. It took a little bit, and a number of sideways tugs, but we did get there and she got her reward of oats in the bucket that hangs there. So today, I will work on getting her to let me halter her without her sticking her head through the panels, and another leading lesson.
Meanwhile, Peppy is quite bored with all this, as I take him out of the pen and tie him up with his grain bucket. I make sure to give him some attention too- he gets brushed and loved up on. I need to find some new challenges for him. Maybe I'll make a bridge or step to work on his loading skills.
The addition on the barn is finished now, so I'll get one more picture then post a start-to-finish for you. It looks great!
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