Alexios and The Great Chase

On Saturday we managed to put a halter on Alexios. He had become accustomed to us being close to him and Anastacia while she was on a lead rope. He tended to hang around and nurse, and presented us his rump for a good scratching. It was pretty easy for me to put my arms around him and hold him in place while Deb slipped the halter over his head. He wasn't proud of the experience at all but we were able to end it on a positive note.

We knew that the halter would have to go back on him today as he really needs to become comfortable with concept. He is a big baby for only three weeks old, and it will become more difficult to handle him if we don't make great strides with him now.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day that was really starting to warm up when we arrived at the pasture this morning. We went about our usually routine, filling the water tank and preparing their feed. When we took Anastacia's feed into her, it was obvious that Alexios had decided that he needed to keep his distance from us, therefor he was staying away from his momma. This is unusual in such a young foal so it became apparent that he had really thought about his experience from the other day.

While Deb held Anastacia, I began to try to get my hands on Alexios. He was determined to stay out of reach and thus the great chase began. Once you've committed to doing something with a horse, you MUST accomplish the task. If you do not, the horse will remember and make things doubly hard the next time. Alexios would have to be caught.

At first we kept Anastacia in the pen in hopes that he would settle down and start to nurse. This would have given me the opportunity to start with a good scratch on the rear that worked its way up along his back and ended with me gently putting my arm around his neck while the other hand went around his rear to hold him in place. Even though it was an excellent plan, he would have none of it. He was going to have to tire himself out before he would be caught.

The simplest way to accomplish this was to put Anastacia out in the pasture so she could graze awhile and have both of us keep Alexios moving. He had learned from the other day that he would be okay if he was separated from his momma while we were in the pen with him. This didn't stop him from trying to rally the other horses to his side by letting out a high pitched whinny. They quickly showed that they were not going to intervene on his behalf though Poesia and Favorito did watch the goings on pretty closely. Anastacia was aware but quite content to graze. She is letting us know that we have totally earned her trust over the years and that she knew we would let no harm come to her baby.

I really wish I'd been able to use my camera during all of this as he really put on a show, taking off and running hard, and kicking his rear legs out at us every once in awhile. He would slow down when he was on the other side of the pen, and then take off running again as soon as we got closer. Peruvian Pasos are noted for their endurance, and Alexios was displaying that he'd received a healthy portion of that. We had to keep him moving for over an hour before he started to slow down. Every once in awhile I could reach out and scratch his rear but that was all he would allow before he took off running again.

He finally reached a point where we could see he wanted to lie down and rest. This was the moment. We caught Anastacia and brought her back in the pen. Alexios immediately went up to her and began to nurse. He didn't care when I slipped my arm around his neck and his rear to hold him in place while Deb put the halter on him. We stood, one on either side of him, and kept him from moving forwards or backwards in order to prevent there needing to be any resistance on the lead rope. We both scratched him in all the right places, and he relaxed enough to start trying to groom us, as is polite in horse society.

That was all, we kept him still and the halter on for about 15 minutes. Anastacia stayed close by but didn't interfere. We let him relax to the point where he was not trying to pull forward or push back, then took the halter off and slowly let loose of him. He stepped away, but didn't run. He started to nurse, and I reached out to give him one more scratch on the back and we walked out of the pen.

He had truly worn himself out and we are both hoping that he came to realize that he'd worked way too hard avoiding something that really wasn't too bad at all. We'll find out on Wednesday, which is the next time we'll be able to get out to the pasture to work with him. Wish us luck.