I am determined to pay attention to the smaller things, in the 10- and 20-minute sessions I’m sneaking away from work.
Today I went out to strip Rocky naked and do something about his habit of swinging his head up as the blanket goes over it.
I held the blanket at the base of his neck and ran one hand up toward his poll to ask for head down. He put his head down willingly enough. I slid my hand back down his mane and waited. And then after a few moments he POPPED it up in the air. And then looked at me like “Hey, you’re not doing your part, the blanket is supposed to come off over my nose when I do that.”
We repeated this two more times, and then I got the halter so we could practice heads down, regardless of where the blanket is on his neck. In the end, he kept his head down while I took off the blanket, but he was still bracey about it, so I waited longer until he relaxed and sighed and earned a release. Then he wanted me to scratch his eye ridges, so I think we’re okay.
Next, we’ll have to work on not swinging his head away every time I point a camera at it. *sigh* Note the one ear.
Horsegirl on a Journey 