Brittney has been putting in a lot of time working with Skye and Logan, the new intakes who are at SAFE Harbor Stables. (Chip is at NWESC awaiting his gelding surgery and Cameo is still at Frontier Park). Here’s what she’s has to say about how each of them are doing:
Skye Update:
She is improving and is very smart, but should only be handled by very experienced handlers at this point. She easily spooks and swings her barrel towards you. For instance, Velcro on my coat set her off, but I then purposefully did it over and over again until she settled. The sign on her door was flapping in the wind while we were walking and she took a step towards me, but was EASY to get out of my GIANT 4′ bubble. However I am paying 100% attention to her and she must stay off of me or I turn into scary woman (it doesn’t take much to scare her, just widening my arms and flicking the rope a bit does the trick). She’s curious enough to want to interact and does enjoy either scratches or massages when I invite her into my space.
I handled her twice yesterday and 3 times today. At the end, she thought about not going in her stall. I thought I was going to be a hostage in arena with her until hay fell from the sky for dinner, but we had a stand-off and she gave in pretty quickly. I LOVE the rope halter for the ability to put pressure on the poll.
Logan Update:
Logan takes a little bit of effort to be haltered, which is interesting, because Skye is now easier to halter than Logan. So far, Logan is mainly good once the halter goes on him, but as you would expect he’s a little nervous. He hasn’t done anything, but he is nervous and until we know more about him, we need to be very careful about who handles him.
He is a very sweet horse and enjoys people, but is a little bit herd bound to Skye. At this point in time, though, I think he’d be that way no matter who was put next to him.
