September 19, 2008 – More baby steps

I tried something new last night. I took Rory out of the stall and 'tied' him for grooming. He got a little worried a couple of times. Mum was nickering in concern which set Rory off a bit, but they settled when I pushed his bum over so mum could touch him when she hung her head out. He didn't want to hold his right front foot up again (that's the hard one) but of course I persisted and he had to accept it. He's really good with both hind feet now.

Rory did his usual trick of eating all but the last dozen pellets. I grabbed a bit extra out of mum's bowl and Rory happily ate all that down to the last dozen pellets. I think he has trouble getting them out of the corner of the bucket - I'll have to get him a better feed bucket. He's not super interested in "grain" yet. When left alone he hangs his head out the head gate while mum eats. The other foal is right in there with his mum, pushing for his share.

I don't mind really. I started the brat on a little bit of grain early too, and he's never been one to get pushy or worried about his "grain". For quite a while I had to stand over the brat to make sure he kept his nose in his feed bowl. If I left him for five seconds he'd leave it and go off nosing around anything interesting.