Collective spent an uneventful night in his new stall. By this morning he was thrilled to once again be receiving breakfast, and he nickered when I approached his stall with the feed bucket. While I watched him eat, I tried out a few various names on him that we had been considering. He ignored me for all of them except Takoda. When I called "Takoda" again and again, each time he lifted his head from eating to look at me. That sealed it - Collective's new name would be Takoda! Takoda is an American Indian name meaning "Friend to everyone."
After my husband and I cut down some dangerous eye-level branches in the pasture, I gave him 2 tablets of acepromazine (tranquilizer) orally and waited 45 minutes. I put the lead shank around just the top of his nose today to see if he would let me lead him quietly without the gum chain. Tonka and Beauty were locked away, and Laramie was out in the pasture munching hay. I decided to turn him out with Laramie, the senior citizen of the herd, believing she would treat him the nicest for his first turnout. She did not disappoint.
Takoda's first moments out of the barn were fascinating for me. He looked around as if he had never seen a pasture before. I expected him to run and buck and play, but he did not. He sniffed the air for quite some time, and then slowly began sniffing the ground, especially the scattered manure piles. He tasted various plants, even the thorny baby locust trees that had sprouted up next to the barn since last summer! He went back for seconds on the thorns, which surprised me. Once he had done a visual surveillance of the area, he did trot around a bit, and even worked up to a canter a few times. He is a gorgeous mover! He approached Laramie with open curiosity, seemingly unaware that he could get his face smashed in by her hind end. Laramie was utterly disinterested in the new boy, and only bothered to look at him when he approached her hay. When he did, she pinned her ears at him. When he looked at her with wide-eyed curiosity but did not move off, she turned her rump toward him, ears still pinned. This made him all the more curious, and he put his nose down to sniff at her rump. I was sure he was about to get his face pummeled but Laramie just kept her ears pinned and reached around and bit HERSELF on the side of her own belly! Takoda quickly lost interest and moved on, and Laramie never did kick him. He came back a few times to see if she would play with him. He would canter over to her, she would pin her ears, he would wait expectantly for her to turn and play with him, which she never did, but each time she would bite herself in the side. Seemingly oblivious to her warning cues, he quickly grew bored of her disinterest in him, and moved on to tasting and sniffing out everything else in the pasture.
Clearly Takdoa has never seen a mounting block before. He spent a few minutes slowly approaching it from different sides, sniffing, tense, ready to bolt if it attacked. Eventually he realized it was not going to attack him, but it also wasn't going to play with him either. He galloped around the pasture for a bit, stopping at various fences to look at the view on the other side. He seemed especially intrigued with my neighbor's child play set, but when it wouldn't come to play with him, he decided it was time for a good roll. He picked a nice spot, pawed the ground several times, and laid down and rolled. When he was finished, he stood, shook himself, and then pawed the same area, laid down again on the other side, and rolled again, getting himself thoroughly sandy. That scratch must have felt so good after being in a stall for who knows how long!
The first highlight of the day for me was watching Takoda discover a heated waterer in the corner of the pasture. What fun to stick a hoof in and splash about! Unfortunately, we had to stop his antics because he cracked the cover on the heater, and as most know, those buckets are not cheap! I plan to find a large bin or tote for him that he can splash in until I get another stock waterer that he can play in without causing any damage. Once I figure out how to edit videos, I will post a short clip of him splashing around in the bucket.
The second highlight occurred when my 7 year old daughter came home from school with one of her little classmates. Having grown up around horses almost all her life, she really has no fear of them. She and her friend came running over to the fence where my husband and I were standing watching Takoda investigate his surroundings. Already several times he had galloped about, so we were on the outside looking in for safety. My daughter came to the fence, and when Takoda spied her, he came racing over to her, gently lowered his huge muzzle to her head and began nosing her about. He clearly adores her! She giggled and petted him, and he stood calmly while she rubbed him all about his chest, shoulders, and face. When she was finished, he took off again, completely ignoring the taller humans that were with her.
I had planned to leave him out for three hours as Kim had worked him up to that long at her farm, but promptly at one hour into his freedom, he returned to the barn and asked to be let in to his stall. I obliged figuring it best not to push him - he probably knows better than I do what is best for him at this point! Once back in the stall, he greedily hunted through his bedding for misplaced hay cubes and anything else that might be edible. Once he could find nothing else, he popped his head out of the stall and began begging for treats. Of course I obliged him, and he got treats as long as he let me stroke him and come in to his stall to touch him all over. I want him used to being touched and used to my voice, and he was happy to let me as long as the horse cookies kept coming.
Feeding time was a bit more exciting tonight for Takoda, as he saw the bucket and began lifting his right front leg. I could not tell if he wanted to strike, or paw the ground, or was just so excited he couldn't stand still, but I didn't feel safe. I can feel my adrenalin pump when I begin to feel unsafe, so my husband volunteered to feed him, as he was not afraid of Takoda's front hoof. It turns out, he was just so excited he couldn't stand still. When my husband came in the stall and said, "Over" to him, he moved over like a gentleman but kept snorting about until the grain was dropped into his feed bin. He instantly dove into it like there was no tomorrow, and he calmed down beautifully once he had his mouth full!
I am so grateful that my husband has been so willing to be involved, because until a routine is established, this project is definitely a two-person job at least!
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