Alexios gets a hug

A halter was not put on Alexios today. He did however experience a long and secure hug from Deb. His mother did not approve. I got to hold his mother. She was not pleased. We worked things out.

It was a very gray day at the pasture so I decided not to set up to work down there. Instead we took some time to expand the pen that contains Anastacia and Alexios at the moment. This gave them a large area of grass and dry ground in the rear of the pen. After I was done moving panels, it was time for a few photos.

Anastacia was pleased to graze a bit while Alexios nursed. His daddy, Favorito, watches closely.

I tend to squat down frequently when taking photos which seems to be an invitation for Alexios to investigate.

He doesn't want me to reach out to pet him though so he will circle around me, always just out of reach.

Once he is satisfied he will express himself in a little stallion like way just to make sure that everyone knows that he is one very fine fellow.

A lead rope was left on the ground for him to explore. He will soon become very familiar with being on one but for now we want him to become desensitized.

He sniffed at for quite awhile, possibly because it smells strongly of his mother.

Soon, he got distracted though.

I was squatting down again and he felt it necessary to come explore. Maybe he feels more comfortable because it makes me about his height.

Once again he circled around me, always a little more than an arms length away.

Anastacia doesn't like him being too far away from her for very long so she soon was also in the picture.

This shot was taken right before the great rodeo began. We thought we'd see if Anastacia would let us work with him while she was off the lead rope. He seemed willing.

The answer was a definite no. As soon as she realized we were interested in her little one, she sent out a signal and off they went.

We let them settle down and then proceeded to get her caught again (a little extra feed works every time).

There are no more photos after this point since I had my hands full holding onto Anastacia.

Deb waited until Alexios was nursing and then carefully approached him and put her arms around his neck and his rear, then gently pulled him toward her. He was obviously very nervous but stood absolutely still. Anastacia didn't like it at all and started pulling at the lead rope, trying to get to her baby. I needed to keep her away just long enough for them both to settle down. Once they had, she was allowed to walk closer to him and sniff at Deb's arm. She realized her little one was in no danger, and accepted the situation.

Deb held onto Alexios a little longer and then let him go. He'd obviously been quite nervous about it all, as had his mother, so we kept Anastacia on the lead rope until he'd relaxed enough to lie down and nap with us still standing right there with them. This indicated that we were no danger and even if mom was a little unsettled with us being there, it was still okay.

There is much more training to come. We should be able to spend longer there over the weekend and will hopefully be successful in getting that halter onto his cute little head. The goal is to get it on him and to leave it on for awhile before we take it off. This will give him a chance to get used to having it on, and to realize it is not something dangerous. There could be some very interesting photos as he goes through that learning process so stay tuned!