Day 2: Touching and Brushing

Aztec is quite the character!  She is such a baby.  She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth: hay string, lead ropes, dirt, my hand, etc.  Today she relaxed a little bit.  I was able to push her into a pen by herself, and it seems like being away from Lucy, though it freaks her out at first, is actually calming for her.  She paced back and forth and snorted a lot, but then she chilled out and just stood there, looking at me as if to ask what's next.  I had her in a small area, so I could touch her with my lunge stick even when she walked all the way around.  She took a bit more of me holding the stick on her back until she stopped, but she did catch on to the task.  She figured out that once her feet stop moving, the stick and all that nasty pressure comes off.  I did the same thing I did with Lucy, where I would rub her with the stick and then rub her with my hand as well.  She did okay with this, but only on her right side.  She started out not wanting to show me that left side, so we just worked on the right until she was comfortable with me walking up and touching her.

Then I crouched and put a little pressure on her (with my body language) and asked her to show me her other side.  She did so immediately and I rubbed her with the stick on that side.  Once she let me in, I began rubbing small circles on her withers.  That seemed to comfort her, and she kept trying to turn her head around me and "groom" me.  Which would be cute if I thought she wouldn't groom me with her teeth a little too hard.  So I had to bump into her when she tried to return the favor.  She eventually caught on that I was content with just my grooming her, and she stood quietly for me to brush her off on both sides, all four legs, and even under her belly. 

I rubbed the halter and lead rope on her body and face, but I never tried to put it on.  I decided I need to take things a little slower with her, since she is a bit more baby-ish.  ((I forgot to mention this yesterday, but she was trying to nurse on Lucy.  Lucy got so frustrated that she began popping her leg out everytime Az went down there.  Which makes me think that Aztec is a lot younger than Lucy)).  Anyway, I left Aztec without being haltered, but I'm confident that she will be halterable tomorrow evening. 

She's pretty intelligent, though she's very reactive.  She doesn't use the thinking part of her brain as much as I would like to see her doing, but once I've got her trust, I'm going to teach her how to think.  That's my goal for her right now.  To get her to think herself through things.  Clicker training is calling her name!!

I've also posted some pics from yesterday, Day 1. 

First touch <3

She's a gorgeous girl, isn't she!