baby steps.

I've been throwing a saddle pad up onto George the last couple days. Just to see if he puts his grumpy pants on. He doesn't. He is actually almost in a Zen like trance when you put on his 'work clothes'. So then last night I put a saddle on his back and again he didn't put a foot out of place or even bat an eye lash. I didn't put a girth on for a few reasons. Mostly because I am taking baby steps and I'm not sure if I even have a girth that will fit him. CRAZY for a tack hoarder, I know! But I do have a girth extender that I bought two years ago when Pinecone was a bit on the obese side. I will hopefully try a few girths that I had stashed away. I'm sure something will fit.
One thing I've found is that George doesn't like to be pushed too hard. He gets confused and then shuts down. When we've tried loading him in the trailer he just can't handle being pushed further than he is ready for. I've heard a few times that he responds best when he thinks what he is doing us his idea. I plan on feeding him in the trailer the rest of the week. And see if he decides that trailers aren't that bad. I am Facebook friends with one of his previous owners who owns a horse transport company. Looks like old Georgie boy is used to being hauled in those fancy semi trailers for horses. More than likely he'd never been in a 'small' trailer like ours before. So we will just continue our baby steps. He will get there. When we brought him home we tried everything and eventually had to put him into a cattle crowding tub and use the gate to push him into the trailer. Once he was in the trailer he was just fine. Its the getting into the trailer that is the hard part. So we will take it slow. He's a smart horse, he will figure it out. I might even try loading him into our old trailer with the ramp. who knows, he might like it.

George has also has a new best friend.

 

 

Pistol and George as besties. While they aren't always attached at the hip. George actually prefers to graze alone, but I do catch them grooming each other randomly and they tend to share their beet pulp dinner each night. I've started putting both of their dishes next to each other because they can pretend to share that way. Pistol was in love with Piney, but Piney didn't feel the same.

I also took a few random pictures of the boys last night. In between storms and then the power outage that lasted a few hours that affected 4 homes in the whole county.  Nice.

Since we actually have grass growing this year, our pasture looks so much bigger!

Duke looks like a tiny pony.

Yummy green grass!

hmmm we need to do something about that mane...



"Hey George, why don't you tell me how you feel about that garbage hay that is left over in the feeder?"