Went outside and said hello to everyone. This is Zach's (9 years old) second day of staying with us as he's on Thanksgiving Vacation and he went out in the cold with me to muck. He claims to love "training" horses. (super cute) After cleaning the ground up, I haltered Ike and led him a bit, tied him and walked away to clean Amocean's feet. I let Zach spray his feet after I pick them with apple cider vinegar. Then I walked to Ike and asked for each foot to clean them. He's doing so much better at attempting to lift the foot and hold it for a hand to catch it in air. If he doesn't offer it to me when I say "foot", I tap the heel of the foot I want and he shifts weight off of it. I lift it from there and reward him making it easy to get the foot I want. Any effort is good in my book for now. After that, I asked him to weave poles (actually t posts which need fencing on them) and bow. He's stepping out when I ask this, so I'm going to start asking him to move laterally away if he steps out instead of tucking his foot under himself. Asked him to back, smile, bow, play with the ball. Lots of what he was asked is without halter and leadrope so its essential I cue him with my body language as I have nothing physically tying him to me that restricts his movement. He's super fun to work with. I so hope when I can ride him, he's as solid if not more so than Amocean. Tuesday Colin comes back out to trim feet, so I'm REALLY hoping he sees/feels the difference in Ike's acceptance of feet handling.
On another note... An individual who had me find a horse for her is asking for my assistance finding another mount for her. I think her asking for my help again is the best compliment she could give me. I have a couple I offered to go look at for her, so I'll see what she says.
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