National Wild Horse Adoption Day!

Come on out and show your support!

Trailer Loading

Well today we started working on trailer loading with Odakota. At first I thought maybe I would just work circles and he would get tired and just climb on in. NOPE...so I threw all his food in as far as I could and left it there and while we were in eating dinner we noticed not 2 but 4 hoofs leave the ground and enter into the trailer. He will peek his nose through the opening on the side as if to see if we are looking lol and then go back to eating. We tried to walk out there to peek in and he jumped out before we could make it over to the trailer. He is doing great. I hope to be able to load with him tomorrow but if he would rather just do it by himself that that is okay with me also.

We have less then 2 weeks left with Odakota and I hope that some of you are able to join us up in Arlington on the 25th of this month to watch the kids with their yearlings. I hope that Odakota gets adopted out as he would make a wonderful horse for someone and he is so willing to learn. He still has his moments and anything new he seems to think will eat him but he takes it all in and is willing to give anything a try even if it takes him a few days to get use to it first.

I hope to have some pictures uploaded by the end of the week if blogger will allow me to do so. I've been trying for the past 2 weeks to upload video and pictures with no luck. I hope to have another update for you as well.

Oh Yeah!

Today was a great day. I tried to introduce the saddle pad to Odakota 2 days ago and he wanted nothing to do with it so I decided to just leave it in the pen with him and see what we were able to do today :) I was so excited. I was able to swing it from both sides and rub it up his neck and down his back side once it was on him.

He also loves to be brushed. I can brush him all over his body under his belly and even on his legs now. I've been swinging the rope around his legs and behind him and over his head and he is fine with it. We still have issues though....like today Brindin came running out of the house with some bells on his pants and Odakota tried to take off but I had hold of his lead rope. He is very unsure of new things. I have been trying to make as much noise around him as possible to get him use to it all. Once he knows it's okay though he is just fine.

I hope to get him use to the hose this next week. I've been spraying him with it and he runs but does come back to me and I even put the sprinkler in with him the other day. I was way more wet by the time we were done though then he was but thats okay cause he at least tried to tolerate it.

I hope to have pictures of Makenzie and Odakota moving around the round pen by the end of the weekend so stop back by!

Memorial Day Photos

Yesterday I opened up the panels for Odakota to have access to the whole round pen. He loves the space and all the grass growing under the rails.

We got lots of pictures and wanted to share them all with you.

Enjoy!

Withers & Ears

Today was a good day for Odakota.

I have not been able to spend time with him the past 2 days due to an injury from one of my other horses but made my way out there today and he seemed glad to see me. He came right up to me and let me pet his face. I held out on giving him his grain right away to see what he would allow me to do. He let me walk up to his left side and pet his neck. I then tried the right and he was a bit iffy about it as we haven't worked as much on that side so that's when I decided to give him his grain.

Boy how a horse changes when he's got some yummy stuff to munch on. He let me pet his right side down his neck to his withers. I then crossed over to the left and scratched all along his neck and over his withers. So I decided why not try the ears. Well he's not to fond of that one. He bounced back and away from me a few times until he decided the grain was just too good. I was able to rub on both ears. This is a huge step for us. After he was done with his grain I grabbed his lead rope. He did really well with this. I led him around the pen both to the right then to the left. He was amazing. It's still a bit spooky for him and he has not relaxed but hey, he's following. I was even able to pull him to me and rub his neck WITHOUT TREATS :) Yeah Odakota.

We are getting there. It's taking some time but he is really learning to trust us and I am really learning patience.

Progress!

Today was a good day with Odakota. Makenzie was able to scratch his neck while he ate from the grain bucket and she was also able to place both hands on his face at once. This is a huge deal. She also grabbed hold of the lead rope a few times. Didn't hold on but let it slide through her hands. That was her first attempt at it and they both did great.

I took lots of pictures today and wanted to share them with you all. I think he is finally starting to trust us. He's getting very interested in us when we go back to see him or even to just play in the back yard. He comes over to the fence now instead of running around his pen to try and get away. I hope to be able to grab the lead line by the end of the week but we shall see!

Makenzie & Odakota

Here are some pictures I got the other day of the 2 of them. Sorry the song is longer the the pictures but I'm just learning the movie maker thing lol.