Day # 2 with Morning Glory ~

Due to lack of a resident Palmer Alarm, I woke up and shuffled into the kitchen for my customary and mandatory, cup of coffee.   As I was just lifting a fresh, hot cup up to my lips I glanced out the kitchen window to see...a black blur!

Oh boy, a black blur around here can only mean one thing.  Pony has (yet again) escaped the pen.  The pen Morning Glory was in, the Pen that was supposed to keep my new Foster baby safe and sound, the Pen that was to provide comfort and safety!!

No coffee for me.  I donned a random pair of boots, the ugly coat and a pair of gloves.  Part me of me was still whining about lack of coffee, but I went out side to find Morning Glory in the pasture with the big horses.  She insisted upon charging at my biggest horse.  He took exception to that and snorted at her with pinned ears and squinted eyes.  She merrily trotted off with the entire herd following at a safe distance.

If the Palmer alarm had been present, the moment that Pony escaped the pen I would have been alerted.  Not so now, I have to look out windows and stuff!  For those of you who don't know it, Palmer is a boarders horse, and she moved to warmer climates and sold Palmer to a place up North.  No more Palmer alarm.  We were hoping that perhaps another would step up and fill the need.  So far, no takers.

But I digress, I did the thing that any sane person would do in the early morning before coffee, I bribed Pony with grain,  and donkey and Morning Glory followed.

I put pony in the round pen, donkey was left to wander the yard as per the norm, and I took Glory into the barn to play with her a little before putting her in the round pen with Pony.

I decided to work on some tricks with her. We worked on Obeisance first.

First try

This is how it looks when it first starts, the horses always try to back up instead of bow down.  The hardest part is to teach them to put their legs forward and rock back.  It starts like this and becomes refined as time goes on.  The fact that she was willing to do this much is pretty good.  A horse lowering it's head that low with a stranger really shows a lot of trust for the human. This puts them in a very vulnerable position.  Since horses are prey animals they are very aware of such things.  We use this trick quite often with Mustangs and burrows to help them to gain trust of humans.  AFTER we do many other things first of course (lest you think I dive right into this sort of thing)

Second try

After the first try, I brushed her, worked on some join up, picked up all four feet, brushed her a little and then we did it again.  Above is her 2nd try.

After her second try I decided to go ahead and give her a great brush out and straighten up her mane, tail and forelock.  I don't generally brush out mane and tail because I like it to be long and flowing, brushing it breaks the ends.   

Miniature horses worth their salt are supposed to look like mini Arabians.  So, I am teaching her to pose like the mini Arab she should look like.

Learning to stand like an Arabian.

For the critics out there, yes, I know she needs to have feet squared and slightly parked out to look like a "real mini."  Yes, I know Arabs have one leg back. 

 (see below)

packy sam a miniature horse at a horse show. 

Above is a photo of a miniature horse at a miniature horse show.  I hope to have miss Morning Glory looking like this by spring time or so.  This means the purchase of some SMTG, but that's okay, as I need it for all of my guys anyway.  (The Big Dumb Dog ate my last bottle) 

The last photo is our last try of the day, I went ahead and asked her to do Obeisance one more time before ending our session.  She just got here after all, I need to give her some time to adjust to everything before pushing too hard. 

Last try! 

Look how well she is doing already!!  This is only the third time I've asked!  This girl isn't going to stay her very long.   

See you all tomorrow with updates of the fun we have at that time!