Th' boyz

Time for a Booncat post! He is 2 months and nearly 2 weeks old now so it's time to work on his training a little more than I have been. I can walk up to him and catch him most of the time- he gets better every time- and he is starting to lead too.

I haven't done a lot with him other than pick up his feet and catch him once in a while but as he approaches 3 months old it's time to start getting him to eat the Step One kibble.

It will be a work in progress! I'll probably have to do the alfalfa pellet trick like I did with Eli.

Speaking of Eli.... while he is loading in the trailer to eat every day, it still isn't at the jump-right-in stage. He loads the front feet and backs out several times. Yesterday I added something new to the equation by leaving the trailer door hanging open instead of pinning it all the way back like I have been doing. This makes it like a longer loading chute with the door on one side and me on the other side. I like to send the colts in instead of having them follow me in, which is fine for the first few times but sending them in is safer and more like what they need to do as an adult.So yesterday Eli was not happy about having something different! It took me about a half hour to load him, reminding myself always to stay soft and not get frustrated. I used the John Lyons method of tapping his hip with the stock whip and stop tapping every time he made a forward move. It gets them using their brain as they associate the absence of the aggravating tapping with forward movement and eventually seek that reward. ( Note that I say tapping and not whipping!)
As soon as he starts jumping right in I am going back to having him stand at the hitching rail to eat so that we can work on his standing tied some more. When he goes to his new home I want him trailer loading, foot broke, and standing tied. Another thing I have been doing with him is fly spraying him, he is actually pretty good about that.

But mostly, they just get to be boyz.

Doing the Booncat Boogie

Eli the elegant- he can sure cover the ground!

The size difference in one that will be 16 hands and one that will be 14.2 hands- remembering that Eli is 2 months older than Booncat.