Genesis arrived Saturday. The nice rescue lady showed me how nicely she does on getting her feet cared for. She did great. She met Joma, our Thoroughbred gelding and flashed him doe eyes. Come to think of it, she flashes everyone doe eyes. It is endearing. But apparently you have to be up close enough to Joma for him to see those eyes, because he chased her away from the little herd the rest of the evening.
The next day, they were grazing nose to nose. No surprise there. And they stayed that way all day. I decided to let her have the day to settle...although she did not seem to have any trouble at it. Joe, the old Appaloosa, is suspicious of her and keeps himself between Genesis and Keisha, the Evil Boss Mare.
Monday morning, Joe and Genesis are grazing nose to nose. I guess the only one who doesn't succumb to that doe-eyed gaze is Keisha.
Since everyone is apparently OK with everyone else, I decide to start up her training. I noticed she had a little diarrhea - probably stress and strange pasture. Sometimes this will happen to a horse and then they are just fine within a day or two. She seems fine and frisky and I am sure it goes away with no ill effects. We tied her to a post and left her to observe if she was trained for this. She pulled some, but gave up soon. Then on to bath time. She was jerking her head when she heard the hose sputter, but no freak-outs. We started by wet hooves and moved up by stages, ensuring no acrobatics got started. All in all she did OK.
Later that day, we took her out again and lead her up to a little wagon. She caught on quickly that I wanted her to stay close to it. After draping my arms over her back, it was clear she actually liked that. Then Donnie, my weedeating kid who is taking lessons, stood in the wagon so that he would be suddenly tall...way taller than her. I have had horses get spooked about the first time they see a human be as high as they would on their back, but she did fine. Donnie draped himself over her while standing in the wagon. He bore a little bit weight on her and waved his arms around. Nope, no problem. I'll bet she can saddle right up. I want work her up slowly to more and more weight, but she can take the saddle now, if she is up to it. Then I will pony her around with saddle so she can be ready for a little kid. Donnie is too heavy right now, as he weighs 140. Luckily, I have some little nieces and nephews.
Later, Donnie was riding Joe and Genesis kept getting underfoot. It looks like she will be trained to be a pack pony soon, since following around a rider is something she wants to do. We will see how it goes.
-- Anastasia
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