Gus was introduced to the round pen this evening. Actually, I guess she was introduced to it a couple of weeks ago when it appeared in her pasture. Until this evening, it was just another pile of stuff in her way. She handled it a little better than I had anticipated. She gave about three serious considerations to going over,
but on each occasion thought better of it. I’m very glad of that. She made several half-hearted threats at launching herself. Nothing to them.
We only did about 15 minutes of serious work, but spent a little over 30 in the pen.It was pretty close to dark when we finished. The fireworks were starting and she did notice them, but wasn’t overly bothered by them. She got her wind up pretty good; good enough that she learned quickly to be content to stand, when I said whoa. We worked in both directions of course. Started with outside turns, as always. Got a few decent inside turns toward the end. I pushed consistently until she started to focus on me, then I gradually eased up a little every time she faced me. I was able to walk directly to her, with lead in hand-jingling the snap, touch her, and snap the lead on her halter. I was very happy with that, so I gave her the de-wormer, put some grain on the ground for her, opened the gate and left her.
She was actually much easier with the wormer than Kate was. Kate wasn’t really difficult. She just thought she’d avoid the wormer altogether. A little patience and kindness and she tired of throwing her head into the air. I can only guess that her head weighs about 50 lbs, so she was on the losing end of that contest. I just waited for her to get tired of holding it up and / or throwing it up. Ok, whatever she said. No problem then. Gus didn’t even throw her head. She bobbed to the side a couple of times, but then was very still and swallowed every bit.
Gussie would NOT eat grain from my hand. She ate it off the ground if I stepped back a step.
Will try to have pics in future.