She was easier to catch today, but was a bit nervous leaving the field because we had to walk through the bulk of the herd. The other horses can be nosy as hell and Sandy doesn't like it when they bother us. They all left us alone though and she settled once we were in the barn. She got treats for being so good for me in the pasture and for being brave.
I haven't been doing many exercises with her because training her to let me put her halter on in pasture has been exercise enough for the both of us. She cantered around the whole goddamn field yesterday instead of just behaving for me.
Most days she trots away for a bit but eventually relents. Today she didn't run around too much, but that's probably because she worked herself so hard yesterday for no reason. I wasn't even going fast or anything when making my approaches. I'd wait for her to stop then very slowly make my way towards her, not even looking at her or anything. Just ambling in her direction and occasionally getting out my phone and pretending to be focused on it. I was real casual so maybe she'd be tempted to just come over on her own to get the treats she knows I carry. I'd get a few paces into the trek towards her and she'd start running again. She looked kinda bummed when I gave up. I was too hot to stay out there any longer lol.
Best part of this whole chase game she plays, is that she'll greet me with cute little noises from afar and act like she's gonna come over but then goes in a completely different direction. Such a shithead lol.
I know nothing about horse behavior. I understand the nervousness around the herd. When she kept running away, was she playing with you? Trying to get you to chase/run around with her? When she overdid it yesterday was that nerves or joy?
Hope you don’t mind the questions. So glad you get to spend more time with her now and that’s she’s at a better farm. The updates always make me smile! Thanks PS: how’s her weight gain going?
I'm like 95% sure she was playing and wanted me to chase her. I think her overdoing it was mostly from joy. The mean gelding did chase her very briefly near the end yesterday and that stressed her out.