Start them Young

The sulfa was picked up at Hoerr Vet clinic around 11:00am and by the time I made it back to the farm Rhoda had already worked with Ayanna, put her back and was getting Eliza ready. Helen was given the first dose of medicine then left in the stall with Olympia. They will stay in for a few days to keep Helen's leg out of the mud. Dee, Olympia's owner arrived while Rhoda was riding Eliza and this was a good time to see how Eliza would behave with someone new. We were able to purchase Eliza only because her past owner was afraid of her. She is a big mare and had never been trained to respect people. She was also not trained to ride. Dee did very well with Eliza.

She felt comfortable enough to walk and trot her around the arena. Olympia was brought out next. She is such a smart filly, she figured out right away if she stands still the bag will get off.

Dee practiced leading her around teaching her not to barge forward. Olympia is learning respect, a great thing to teach while young. Her feet were picked up before putting her back in the stall with Helen. Olivia was next on the list. She is just not like any foal we have dealt with. Ususally when we ask a foal to walk on a tarp they are afraid and it takes a while to convince them it is safe. Not Olivia, the first thing she does is sniff it then paw it up into a bunch between her legs. She did this just about everytime we tried to walk her over the tarp.

Finally we just put it on her, and guess what? She stood!

Her feet were also picked up and handled before putting her away. By this time it was after 2:00pm and Rhoda only had time to do a very little with Zalena. She brought her into the barn and with no lead rope on asked her to bow. But...she left the grain scoop just a little too close and Zalena is just a little too smart. She figured out how to reach sideways with her bow to reach the scoop.