Settling in

Well the poor traumatised (he has been forced to move to Essex lol!) lad is settling in well and is slowly coming to terms with the fact that everything he's ever known has been ripped away from him.....sounds dramatic? Well it's true if you think about it!

Ziggy has been in the same home from birth for four years, living with the same horses, being handled by the same people and in the last few weeks he's put up with being worked by a stranger, poked and prodded by a vet, popped on a wobbly metal box completely alone for a few hours and walks off at the end to be met by that strange lady in a strange place. For a horse with such fine breeding and sensitive nature I'm amazed that he's settled in so well!

He's still a little wary and watchful, but Ardiente is giving him such a good lead bless him....RD came to me as an incredibly shy 10 month old colt who'd lived in a headcollar from weaning as couldn't be caught without trickery by anyone other than his breeder (and even then only on HIS terms) and wouldn't let me within 10 ft of him when I first had him. With gentle patient handling he's now like a big affectionate dog who wants nothing more than to be scratched cuddled and fussed by the people he loves. He is truly adorable and he's such a steady chap he's the perfect companion for Ziggy.

Ziggy has been taking a bit of persuasion to be caught. I generally work on the mirroring movement / totally still approach with very low energy and non threatening body language. It's meant that every time I've wanted to be able to do something with him (from brushing, to doing a little in hand work, putting on fly spray, bathing his eye or just catching scratching and stroking and letting him go) I've been able to...it just takes maybe 5, 10 or 15 minutes. Not ideal when he'll be going down into a ruddy great 16 acre field in a few weeks!
With it being the weekend I've had the benefit of being able to go out on and off all day, pootle around, offer good quality scritches and I'm thrilled to say that by this evening Ziggy was finally approaching me for a stroke, letting me hold his headcollar if I wanted and generally giving me the vibe that he was happy in my company...phew!
I'll have to take the great leap of faith that is taking his headcollar off at some point in the next few days...the clicker might come out for this as when I've gone to change his fieldsafe one for my working rope halter it's been met with snorting wild eyed panic that takes real softly softly handling so far. I know I can work him from a neck rope, but I'd rather lay good foundations and have him happy to be approached and handled / caught with him completely at ease about the whole situation....we'll get there...slowly, steadily and with patience and sensitivity!