It's taken the little guy all of this time to get comfortable enough with the rest of my herd...or at least one of my herd...to venture out and away from the area in front of the pens.
Shooter is a good one to buddy up with...
Shooter is a little on the ornery side, but not mean and he does like to play with other horses. But he is also a supremely self-confident, low-energy, sensible young horse and since LJ latched onto him as a roll model, the little red horse has quieted down and is gaining confidence about moving around in larger areas and just doing what 'ranch' horses do...Mosey around, stick their noses into everything they shouldn't and above all...just be calm and confident.
Little John sticks to Shooter like velcro...
But at least he is finally taking advantage of being able to wander around the entire property...all 3 1/2 acres. LOL. Which is probably the biggest space LJ has ever had the opportunity to move around in in his life. And with horses that don't pick on him. LJ had been separated from other horses when I bought him because he was low in the pecking order and was getting picked on. That does horrible things to a young horse's self-estime and is most likely why LJ has/had such separation anxiety issues. He still whinnies some when I take another horse out...any horse...but it is lessening. Sometimes when he starts whinnying, I see him stop and look at Shooter, who is in a pen next to him, to see what his reaction is and while Shooter may be watching, he seldom makes any noise, so LJ will stop whinnying and simply watch too.
I love watching these kinds of interactions of the horses. A good role model, like Shooter is proving to be, can teach other horses more about being a confident horse than any human can. I can literally watch LJ striving to adopt Shooter's aura of self-confidence and non-chalance about the normal comings and goings around my place and it makes me smile. It's like watching a little brother watch and then mirror their big brother's stance and mannerisms. It's so cute.
5 comments:
Aww he sounds like a perfect buddy :) And learning some good important things all horses should know from him.
This is great. It's amazing to see what happens when you set up a perfect pair. I remember how B's confidence grew when I put him in the with TB mare. She pushed him around and finally one day, he pushed back. It made her back off and made him step up his game.
Yay! I knew he'd start getting it eventually. Herd dynamics...they are the most amazing thing to me!
I always put steady geldings in with the mares and babies. When weaning time comes it is stress free, and the babies also learn how to be proper horses.
However, never put them in with a jerk or they'll learn all the wrong stuff!
That is great news - they are both so cute! :-) Good to hear that LJ is letting his hair down and relaxing into the ranch horse life.
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