Newsletter Reprints
From Newsletter sent 4/23/09:
Hard to Believe Malachi is 7 Weeks Old! Lots of New Photos Below
This photo was taken at 3 weeks old, but our boy horse is almost two months now (see below) and is definitely proving every day that deep down every horse on the planet would prefer to be in relationship than not. Born of two wild unhandled parents he is completely unafraid of people or other horses. Perhaps too much so. I've brought everyone from the herd down at one time or another to see how they respond to Noelle and Malachi. Noelle reads the attitude right away and doesn't approach if she suspects issues - like with Mariah. Mariah is not a snotty horse inside the herd but she wanted absolutely nothing to do with either Noelle or Malachi. Noelle kept her distance but Malachi kept coming, sticking his head through the fence, clicking his mouth "please don't hurt me I'm just a baby" and each time he did that I had to restrain Mariah with the lead rope to keep her from striking with her mouth. Very unlike her normal behavior. Even Cash was a tad crusty with Malachi although I tend to read it as educational. He had to climb out of his usual easy going demeanor when he was educating Mouse at one year old. That's the only way Mouse would listen, and Cash did a good job. But Malachi is too young for that yet which is probably why mama hasn't started any serious discipline even when he's crawling all over her (see below) or biting her hard on the back of the legs. I, for one, wish she would get on with the discipline thing because it would help me with his desire to bite. I do use discipline, and diversion. Pocket and Mouse were both very sweet with Noelle and Malachi (see below). They all did lots of nose sniffing and blowing, and both Pocket and Mouse were very gentle with Mal. BTW, the fence you can see at the very top right corner of the above photo is the gate into the hillside pasture where the herd lives, which is why this is Noelle's favorite place to hang out because she can exchange looks and greetings with the other horses whenever one approaches the gate.
3 Weeks
3 Weeks - Pestering Mama
25 Days
Note the loose lead line. This is the first time Malachi was lead out of the "playpen" (Kathleen's name for the stall where the early training and imprinting was done). Here we're over by the paddock fence, maybe 30 or 40 feet away from the playpen... and maybe 50 feet away from mama.
Same Day
Eye booger gone.
Same Day
Mal gets playful.
Still 25 days old
Stepping onto his pedestal. Sometimes he steps up all by himself to peer over the corral rail at mama even when he's free to use the gate to get to her. Stepping onto pedestals is something he'll never be worried about as an adult. Again many thanks to Allen Pogue for pressing this point.
Four and a half weeks old
What a pretty boy!
Four and a Half Weeks
Four and a Half Weeks - Out in the Free World
Six and a Half Weeks
Meeting Aunt Pocket
7 Weeks Old - Howdy Benji.
His 7 Week Old Birthday Present
A stroll in the free world at liberty, no halter or lead.
He stayed very close.
7 Weeks - but still a baby
Once again, many thanks to Kathleen for the gorgeous photography. I think she's found a new career. Who'd of thought a lawyer would have such a nice eye :)
I hope you'll follow us on Twitter. It's been fun "tweating" bits and pieces and photos when something cool happens out in the pasture.
5-5-09 Newsletter
Quite a Morning Adventure for Malachi!
What a spectacular morning! Malachi really stretched his boundaries on his at-liberty walkabout. Although today it was a race-about. He had never ventured farther than the far end of our tack room (which is right next to the hay shed where I load the Gator for the hillside herd feeding) but this morning with no concern whatsoever he just kept trotting and went all the way down to and into the arena which is at least 100 yards down a steep hill and around a sharp turn. This was his first trip ever into the arena. He raced from one end to the other a couple of times, then raced back up to the tack room. I stepped toward him and he wheeled and raced (I mean RACED) down the little road back into the arena, then back out and up. Very proud of himself. I decided not to give him the opportunity to learn that he could run away from me so I just ignored him when he was close by... and watched with a big smile when he was down in the arena. He wasn't on guard or worried at all. Just curious. This was his time, and I relaxed and enjoyed watching his little brain at work figuring things out. He must’ve run the full circuit from tack room down the road to far end of the arena 8-10 times. One trip he missed the gate into the arena and did a perfect slide stop at the fence. Then stepped around the gate and took off again to the far end. Mama was pretty much beside herself at first and I loved it that I was up near her and she could see that I had nothing to do with all this. She would go down into the lower stall (which overlooks the arena) and watch Malachi racing around, then she would trot back up and look at me as if to say: Aren’t you going to do something?? I just shook my head. It’s your baby.
Finally Malachi nosed around the outside of the arena and discovered the shortcut path up to the lower stall where mama was monitoring it all. He trotted right up the path (the cell phone photo above) and hung out with mom across the stall fence for a bit. I was just before going to the far side to urge him back toward home when he came around and wriggled through a narrow space between the tall rocky hill and the lower stall and climbed the rocks back up to the outside of mom’s upper stall. Then with a single point from me he trotted right back into the play pen, into mom’s stall, and started nursing, quite the proud little boy. Well, not so little. A few minutes later he was back at the closed gate asking me if he could come out again. Maybe later, I said, and gave him a couple of rubs and a treat then headed out to feed the herd on the other hillside.
While watching him race back and forth I kept thinking about a statement Kathleen made one day when Malachi was galloping circles around the paddock. “Just think of all the foals locked up in stalls who never get to do this.”
His feet btw look sensational. No need for any trimming yet.
Today Malachi is two months plus two days old... And BIGGG! (see below) The photo above, again, is of him trotting up the “shortcut” from the arena (which you can see in the background down the hill) toward mom’s lower stall. The photos below were taken two days ago. See what I mean when I say BIGGG!.
Malachi watches Kathleen catch Benji and me celebrating his 2-month birthday :)
From the 5-25-09 Newsletter
The Buckskin Emerges
Not only does Malachi continue to grow (I had to raise the plank that keeps Noelle out of his playpen this week) his whiteness is now giving way to the buckskin underneath. Especially on his neck. See the photos above and below. Kathleen doesn't usually get to show up in these newsletters because she's always behind the camera... but she figured that out in the shot below :)
These were taken yesterday afternoon just outside his playpen while we were mixing and loading the gator to feed the pasture five. Every morning and evening while we're loading up, Malachi gets to wander out in the free world wherever he wants, which is usually not far. He hasn't yet made a second trip down to the arena like the one described in the last newsletter. Dr. Matt is just amazed at how big and strong he's getting and how good he looks... and how many stallion tendencies he's already showing (he'll be 3 months old on June 3rd - my how time flies). So we're sorry to say that on Thursday he will lose his manhood. It had to happen sometime as we have no intention of breeding and want him to be able to live a good life with the herd. Still, he's going to be such a big good looking boy that it makes me sad to do it.
I have to be a bit more careful when working with him these days because now when I get a foot under his hoof it hurts!
Noelle and I have pretty much been treading water since Malachi's birth. I've just been trying to maintain, and not let her slide backwards. Serious work needs full attention and with Malachi around she's either very annoyed with his pestering, or worried about him if he gets too far away or is locked out. As you might remember, we left her journal with me rubbing her pretty much all over with one hand while she ate hay from my other hand. Recently I decided to trade places and let her do the touching. I stand right by her tub of chopped salad (Safe Starch forage) and hold out my hand for her to touch and sniff. The idea was that as soon as she did, I'd walk away so she could eat. The first time she didn't like it at all. To eat, she'd have to get closer to me than she ever had without food in my hand. So she snapped in my direction, which is very normal herd activity when challenging for dominance. And I've been around her enough (finally!) to know what she was doing. Not being mean. Just checking in with herd hierarchy. So I was able to keep my adrenaline in check, puff up, stand taller, pin my ears :) and point a finger right in her face. She took a step back, blinked a couple of times, then stepped right up and sniffed my hand. I told her how good she was and left her to eat. Now it's a ritual. She knows how to get rid of me :) But because she's making the choice to do it and "stretching her envelope," I can now walk right past her tub and she just swings her head away to let me pass, instead of jumping back several steps like she used to do. Not a big advance, but an advance. And it's fun to watch her brain whirling and spinning.
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