Babies day 4.
Was much too cold out to take pictures, so unfortunately we didn't get any.
The paint Emmitt and the blue roan Hattie are by far the easiest to work with so far. I caught Emmitt in a matter of minutes and tied him up. Then my husband came out and basically ran up to him and tried to pet him so of course the only 4 days of handling in his life baby freaked and pulled back, so I went and stood with him and fixed the panel, once he was calmed down again I left him to catch Hattie and tied her next to him and all was well.
The other 3 can't just be caught so ran them down the ally and pulled out my bay roan Coco (who yesterday I kept calling Rosie so name is subject to change) she forgot how to lead since yesterday so we worked on that until she followed nicely and went back to working on touching her on her off side and down her legs preparing her for her first trim she desperately needs which will hopefully happen next week. Tied her up away from Emmitt and Hattie because she's by far the most herd bound of the 3.
On to the two red heads. They had been the most reactive and crazy, we hadnt put a lead on them at all at this point and we're just letting them get used to the idea of us being around them and touching them without them overreacting. Yesterday I was able to touch the sorrel Two-bits face and she didn't try to run off, so we seperated two-bits and the red roan who doesn't have a name into seperate corrals, which unfortunately got a little western, two bits attempted to climb/ jump / run through the panels when she learned she wasn't in the same pen as her sister. So we let her be to settle and focused on no name.
Got a rope on no names halter and unfortunately once again things got a little complicated, she freaked and tried to bolt and I just held fast in the middle of the pen letting her rear and buck and do her thing, it wasn't until she managed to get the rope around her neck that she stopped (if she was really going to choke herself I would have let go but a little pressure wasn't going to hurt) once she stopped I slowly went in to say hi and pet her. For giving me the most drama of the bunch so far she really softened fast. Worked on petting her all over and some give and release on the lead lines. Basically became quite very quickly which was nice after the first antics.
Two-bits I can see being an problem, the others u get them on a rope they freak out then stand. Two-bits wasn't like that, you could pet her a little then she'd be back trying to jump the Panels or get away. We settled with some basic give and release to pressure on the line.
By then it was very very cold and today I have a cold :( so probably won't go out today unfortunately. I really wanted to work with them every day considering how young and flighty they are and the improvements day-to-day. But pregnant me can't push myself too hard either :( + I have an ultrasound today so couldn't go out that long anyways
