I got spoiled this summer by having good assistants/interns. It’s about 100% safer to have someone to work with. I go get John to help me with the dicey stuff like lifting the hind feet for the first few times. The only time I am really worried is when there is standing water on the ground and I could drown in a puddle. I don’t know that it goes a heck of a lot faster, at least until the assistant is “up to speed”, which takes about 3 weeks. I’ve had a few calls and I stress that they should study the website and watch the videos. It’s not natural horsemanship… it’s more like training marine mammals. If they think of themselves as budding natural horsemanship stars they are going to be so unhappy here.
I turned the Mongolians in with the senior pen. Osiris and Timugen haven’t figured out who actually rules their universe. I pulled open the panels so they can get back in their normal pen, but they have access to the heated water trough now. The Mongolians are done except for getting Timugen comfortable about getting in the trailer. I don’t like to practice with the trailer as long as their is snow balled up in their hooves. Ultzy has turned into this total love-hound and follows me around in hopes that I will scratch him. He is more like a Labrador than a mustang.
We moved the domestic’s water trough to where we could reach it with a hose. The pipes that go out to their normal faucet froze and broke in the greenhouse. It can be fixed, but meanwhile carrying water is tiring.
