March 23, 2007
Sammy has been here for 12 days. It has taken allot to get him to trust me. We had a big breakthur today.
Sam allowed me to put his halter on. He really does know that I won't hurt him, but he is so scared that
everything takes that much more time & effort. He handled the halter well. He was somewhat
uncomfortable having that thing on his head, but after the initial shock wore off, he started to relax and
release. He stood over his water bucket and yawned for about 5 minutes. I think everything else we do
from this point forward will be a little easier (at least thats what I am hoping for)
I put a sprinkler out for him. He thought it was interesting, but he wasn't ready to be brave and play with
water, maybe in a few more days.
Sammy has been here for 12 days. It has taken allot to get him to trust me. We had a big breakthur today.
Sam allowed me to put his halter on. He really does know that I won't hurt him, but he is so scared that
everything takes that much more time & effort. He handled the halter well. He was somewhat
uncomfortable having that thing on his head, but after the initial shock wore off, he started to relax and
release. He stood over his water bucket and yawned for about 5 minutes. I think everything else we do
from this point forward will be a little easier (at least thats what I am hoping for)
I put a sprinkler out for him. He thought it was interesting, but he wasn't ready to be brave and play with
water, maybe in a few more days.
April 11, 2007
We moved Sam over the weekend to a new enclosure. It was time to get him out of the round pen. It was
probably a bit premature in his training to move him such a distance with just a halter & lead rope, but all in
all it went pretty well. I had to move him across the property. He did ok for the first 60 feet or so, and then
he realized that he was moving into unknown territory. The last stretch took allot of coaxing and
reassurance. He did manage to keep his wits about him. He did try to spin away a couple of times, but if he
had really wanted to get away, he would have, hes a big boy. He tried hard to listen and do the right thing.
I decided it might be easier for him if he had another horse to follow, so we grabbed Sera and she walked
ahead of him toward his new pen. This worked great, he paid attention to her instead of all the new scary
sights. We made it to his pen in about 15 minutes, not to bad for his first long distance leading experience.
Yesterday, Sam met the vet for the first time. He wasn't to excited about being examined. She did a
minimal exam, and then we called it good. Decided it would be better for me to vaccinate him myself when
its a little quieter around the ranch. So tomorrow or the next day he'll get his first tetanus shot, in
preparation for his gelding appointment.
Hes been a good student. Hes learned all about taking paste med's from an oral syringe. I put some
molasses in the syringe the first few times I showed it to him and its made things nice and easy. He
practically begs for it.
We moved Sam over the weekend to a new enclosure. It was time to get him out of the round pen. It was
probably a bit premature in his training to move him such a distance with just a halter & lead rope, but all in
all it went pretty well. I had to move him across the property. He did ok for the first 60 feet or so, and then
he realized that he was moving into unknown territory. The last stretch took allot of coaxing and
reassurance. He did manage to keep his wits about him. He did try to spin away a couple of times, but if he
had really wanted to get away, he would have, hes a big boy. He tried hard to listen and do the right thing.
I decided it might be easier for him if he had another horse to follow, so we grabbed Sera and she walked
ahead of him toward his new pen. This worked great, he paid attention to her instead of all the new scary
sights. We made it to his pen in about 15 minutes, not to bad for his first long distance leading experience.
Yesterday, Sam met the vet for the first time. He wasn't to excited about being examined. She did a
minimal exam, and then we called it good. Decided it would be better for me to vaccinate him myself when
its a little quieter around the ranch. So tomorrow or the next day he'll get his first tetanus shot, in
preparation for his gelding appointment.
Hes been a good student. Hes learned all about taking paste med's from an oral syringe. I put some
molasses in the syringe the first few times I showed it to him and its made things nice and easy. He
practically begs for it.
Sam's first few minutes in his new pen.
4/13/07
I was able to worm Sam today. It went off with out a hitch, in fact I think he even liked the taste of the
wormer. I didn't even have to put a halter on him, just went into his pen, showed him the tube and he
pretty much wormed himself. Now if I can only teach him how to vaccinate himself too.
We also worked on backing up today. Hes a very fast learner. It took him about 5 minutes to grasp,
finger wiggle, lead rope wiggle, back up.
4/17/07
Sam received his first shot today. He handled it very well. Of course he flinched back two steps when
I put the needle in, but he didn't freak out and he didn't run away. I was able to easily attach the
syringe and give him his tetanus shot. 3 more weeks and we do it again. After that he will be ready for
his gelding appointment. I am really impressed by him.
4/20/07
Sam is coming along so nicely. Today we practiced walking in and out of his paddock. He did
fantastic. Hes also become very proficient at backing up with just a wiggle of the lead. Hes a few pics
from our session today.
I was able to worm Sam today. It went off with out a hitch, in fact I think he even liked the taste of the
wormer. I didn't even have to put a halter on him, just went into his pen, showed him the tube and he
pretty much wormed himself. Now if I can only teach him how to vaccinate himself too.
We also worked on backing up today. Hes a very fast learner. It took him about 5 minutes to grasp,
finger wiggle, lead rope wiggle, back up.
4/17/07
Sam received his first shot today. He handled it very well. Of course he flinched back two steps when
I put the needle in, but he didn't freak out and he didn't run away. I was able to easily attach the
syringe and give him his tetanus shot. 3 more weeks and we do it again. After that he will be ready for
his gelding appointment. I am really impressed by him.
4/20/07
Sam is coming along so nicely. Today we practiced walking in and out of his paddock. He did
fantastic. Hes also become very proficient at backing up with just a wiggle of the lead. Hes a few pics
from our session today.
