Brutus Diary for fun

[kaykay]

I thought for fun I would do a Brutus diary here on the rescue forum. I get asked so much how to handle a never handled horse. I am not an expert! but i have brought around quite a few horses like brutus.

Day 1 (hes been here 24 hrs)

Brutus is still going crazy pacing and whinnying because hes so excited to see horses. Hes in a lot where he can see all of mine but cant touch them. Hes being lotted with bill and hilary (mini donks) Since he hasnt been with horses since 6 months of age Im not sure he knows how to interact with horses. He was really stumped with the donkeys but is doing well with them. Went to feed and he immediately turned his butt to me and shook his head. I walked away with the hay. He turned around. (that is what i want!) I walk tword him and he turns his butt to me. I walk away again. Now i go to the donkeys and pet them. Now hes really mad. I approach with the hay again and he faces me and waits. Now he gets his hay! I put the hay down and let him eat.

Dinner time. we have to go thru the whole thing again

He turns his butt i walk away. Takes another 3 times before he will stand and face me.

Day 2. Breakfeast time. Only takes 2 times and he faces me. I think hes getting it. Interacting with the donkies even better.

Dinner. Again takes 2 times and he faces me.

Day 3. We have lift off! I bring breakfeast and we dont have to do the dance. He faces me and waits while I put hay down. Now i know i can start working on touching him because he respects me as the keeper of the hay

:

Afternoon. I go out and just stand and he runs circles around me. I just wait and ignore him. I go pet the donks and he comes up behind me and again i ignore him. Pet the donks some more. I approach brutus and he runs off. I go back to petting the donks and ignore him and then leave

Day 4. Feeding goes well no more having to walk away.

afternoon. I go out and stand again and he runs circles around me shaking his head. I put a hand out and he stops. I approach and he backs up so i stop (pressure off) we stand and look at each other. I put a hand out again and he smells it but immediately backs up. Its freezing cold and I have gloves on. I take the glove off and put a hand out again. He gets closer and smells again but doesnt back up. Ahhh so he didnt like that glove! I start petting his nose. now he moves closer. Then i pet slowly under his jaw. He moves closer. I pet his neck. He loves it but thats as close as hes going to get. I feel under his mane and that scares him and he runs off. I know i have to start over because if i leave now i have taught him to run off when or be scared when his mane is touched. I wait. He comes back. I put a hand out he sniffs. I pet his neck with my fingernails and hes in heaven. I pet some more and then i tell him goodbye. I always leave a horse like this wanting more!!! Just like a boyfriend LOL.

Hes mad that im leaving and follows me to the gate. Yep this is just what i want! I tell him how good he is and leave. He whinnies like crazy

 

[tifflunn]

:bgrin I like the diary! :bgrin

 

[kaykay]

Today is day 5. *i was catching up this morning and put all the previous days on 1*

Doing great with feeding. Seems much less agitated. This is probably due to getting used to see horses and being taken off cow sweet feed. He does however keep pulling the heater out of the water tank. Abby the neighbor has been petting him and has noticed the donks are getting really jealous of all the attention Brutus is getting.

I went out again this afternoon. Did my usual stand and wait for Brutus to approach. Started petting him and he nipped. I pinched his lip. Petted him some more. He left. I waited. He comes back and im scratching his back and he very aggressively reaches down to bite my leg. I was really hoping he wouldnt do that. Following the 3 second rule he was reprimanded swiftly and severly. he takes a few steps back and shakes his head and stares at me like "what?" circles around me and comes back. I pet him some more. He nips again. I pinch his lip again. I know I have to end on a good note and its freezing cold so Im really hoping we arent going to do this for the next hour LOL. Once again he comes back. I pet him again and rub his back. He loves that. No nipping whew. I decide to end there on a happy note and leave and he follows me to the gate

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Oh Great and Powerful Keeper of the Hay! :worshippy: I absolutely LOVE this diary. He is your sugar puppy Kay. His trust will grow faster. I am so glad you have him now and he can lear he's a horse! Please scritch him for me?

:

 

[lilfoot]

: Love Brutus' diary too!

:

I'll be watching for each & every entry.

Sandy

 

[Leeana]

I am loving this dairy, it shows what such a good horsewoman you are! Keep it up, i will deffently keep a watch over this diary.

:aktion033:

 

[chandab]

Me, too! I'm enjoying reading about Brutus, so please keep up the diary. It's interesting and who knows it may help someone else with a horse.

 

[Casnos Minis]

[SIZE=18pt]I will be watching for the diary every day. I like it Kay you're doing a good job with him already. Keep it up. I love his look and he's going to be a very handsome boy come summer.[/SIZE]

Christy

 

[Barbie]

[SIZE=12pt]Hi-[/SIZE]

Love the diary - what a lucky boy Brutus is to have you fostering him. :aktion033: The very best of luck with him, and I too will be watching daily for the latest steps.

Barbie

 

[kaykay]

aww thanks. i wasnt sure if anyone would be interested.

Day 6

No problems feeding whatsoever even when kyle or christie feed. this time i had christie feed and then waited. I wanted to see if he would be food agressive once he has food. I let him eat about 10 minutes then went in while he was eating. I am happy to say he did not show any food agression! So then he wanted his pets. I started rubbing his neck and sure enough here comes the mouth. His mouthiness is what caused the previous owners to fear him so much. I do think its a combination of wanting to groom back and nipping. This time i gently held his mouth shut with my left hand kept petting him with the right. this seemed to work very well. I want to show him that he can be petted without mouthing me back. He did try one more nip so again I started completely over. Again its very cold so christie was asking if we could go lol. NO we cannot go until we end on a good note

So I rubbed him some more, played with his mane and then told him what a great man he is and left. Christie started laughing as he followed me all the way to the gate. (which again is a very good sign)

I want to emphasize though that I do not really turn my back on him. I am looking out the corner of my eye to be sure hes just following me and not going to come up behind me and nip. you do have to be very careful with a horse like this!

A few have asked why I am not halter training him yet. I do feel its important to do that soon (what if he needed vet care?) but i am giving him time to settle in and just get used to being around people first. I do not want to overload him with stress right off the bat.

I am going to have christie take pics next time i work with him

edited to say dang it i am so falling in love with this horse. Its really hard to foster and not fall hard

:

 

[ChrystalPaths]

I think you're doing it just right Kay. He'll come to halter much easier when he trusts you. I would actually use a lead around his neck first before the halter so he learns to give to easy pressure without fear. I think he is falling in love with you also.

 

[kaykay]

due to extreme cold (its -5 here today and winchill of -15) training is supsended until it warms up a bit lol.

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Can't say's I blame you Kay, it's -17 here today with winds 35mph. Good day to bake something yummy, slow cook a chicken, and read good book under a nice warm blankie with a dog on your feet. :aktion033:

 

[PaintedPromiseRanch]

sounds so much like what Bonnie suggested i do with our rescue mini mule Little Miss Maggie. i will be interested to follow your progress!

 

[kaykay]

well its still unbearably cold and school is cancelled for the 4th day. for now we are just petting him and working on the mouth still. Abby was petting him yesterday and now he just tries to mouth you as you pet him instead of nip lol. so we are making progress. hopefully the cold will end and we can do some more work

 

[AppyLover2]

Kay this diary is great. Please keep posting. It's definitely a great way for those of us with less experience with minis to learn how, when and why to do things. Thanks!!

 

[maplegum]

Yes, please keep posting! PLEASE!

 

[kaykay]

I will start a new thread with the brutus diary! thanks so much for reading! we did get delayed by horrible weather but it looks like we will be ready to go again.

I will say that my neighbor has been a huge help while im on mare stare. She has been brushing and just working on his mouthiness with him while im sleep deprived. He now lovesssssss to be brushed!

as soon as the rain clears we are going to start halter breaking!!

 

[MiniNovice]

Hi I know I haven't been on in a long time, been doing more dog shows than horse stuff! I am getting back into minis (THANK-YOU SHAWNA BROWN) so am trying to catch up on the boards. I love this diary and would like to suggest a book/ video combo to you. They are by John and Josh Lyons. They are a foather/son team of trainers that fall into cirlae of soft training methods along with Kenny Harlow, Monty Roberts, GwaNa Pony Boy etc. The Book by John is called Bringing Up Baby and the video by Josh is called Foal Handling. The combio can be bought at he store section of their website, www.johnlyons.com, for $60. Knowing the lyons' though if you CALLED and explained about CMHR and the kind of horses you get and use Brutus as an example , I would be surprised if they didn't offer you a hefty discount or better yet even a donation. What's great about the combo is it includes all of what you are doing but it is organized into 20 sequential lessons organized to make sense to the horse, not based on our thinking. I have used parts of it on wild things that used to appear on the mini farm I once worked on (none as bad as what you get clearly) and they work SO well! I have been to several of either his or Kenny Harlow's (Lyon's started Kenny on his path) big horse training seminars because our mini club always has a promo booth at the World Horse Expo in Timmonium, MD. The techniques transfer to our little guys beautifully. Take a look at the website description and call. They are wonderful giving people. Kenny even does people rescue! He works with a ranch for troubled teens! Kenny has a series on de-spooking horses that is great once you get them halter trained. It works great for training for our crazy obstacle classes! Kelly P