Alexios Goes Back To School

The weather was perfect today for spending time out with the horses. It has been a week since I've been able to get out there to see our young one, and he has grown!

The first order of business is always to let them out to graze awhile in the pasture. It is interesting how enamored of Poesia he has become.

Alexios tends to stick closer to her, and I think secretly Poesia is very pleased about this.

Anastacia doesn't seem to mind as it means she is left at peace to graze.

Inevitably, once they've settled down to eating, they all stroll closer to each other and graze contentedly.

Well, that is until I get too close with my camera. Poesia decided it was time to put some distance between us, just in case I got some wild idea that I might want to catch her.

Alexios follows her closely.

Watching them, one would almost think that this was her foal.

Alexios has no problem with me getting close to him. He almost seems to pose for the camera.

Then with a burst of youthful exuberance he takes off.

Favorito was pleased everyone was out in the pasture as it gave him a chance to act the stallion.

His herd was relaxed and grazing. Truth be told, they were much more concerned about Poesia's demeanor than his, but don't tell him that.

Mother and son enjoyed a relaxed moment together.

Then Alexios decided to go visit dad. At first he smacked his lips submissively then seemed to get a wild notion that he could act studly with Favorito. This didn't go over too well so Favorito is showing him that he has a long way to go to become a real stallion. Poesia decided to intervene at this point and guided Alexios away from the fence.

Soon it was time to bring them back in the pen and feed them their grain. Alexios, always one to push the limits, is trying to decide whether Poesia will allow him to share her feed.

She doesn't actively discourage him but her ears laid back do send a message.

He decides it is probably best not force the issue.

Besides, Mom always lets him have some of hers.

Once all the feed was gone it was time to work with him. He haltered easily, which is good because he is really too big now for me to put my arms around him and hold him in place. He has just about outgrown his foal halter so will have to move up to the next size which I believe is a colt halter.

Today he learned about leading. At first he wanted to back up when any tension was applied but quickly learned that would get him nowhere. Deb gave him some scratches on his neck to settle him down.

We then used Anastacia as an incentive for him to move forward. I applied a little tension on the lead rope and Deb gently pushed him from behind to move him forward. As soon as he took a step the tension was relaxed. We walked him about 25 yards this way and he remained quite calm the entire time. As soon as we reached Anastacia, school time was over.

The halter and lead rope were removed and he received an abundance of scratches. Here you can see that he has shed a lot more on his face and we are getting closer to knowing what his adult color may be which will most likely be some variation of bay.

It would be lovely if he took on the mahogany tones of his father. I guess we'll just have to wait and see until he sheds off all of his baby coat.

Too soon it was time to go and we left them all grazing contentedly in their pen.