Yesterday Cooper was very easy to catch.  It took under a minute for me to get a hold of his rope and bring him in.

Today I arrived and his halter and rope were not on him.  Luckily the smaller second halter I had left on under the breakaway halter and rope was still on.  When I went to retrieve him, he walked towards me, nickered, stopped and allowed me to walk up to him and take hold of his halter.  No fuss.

The constant reward of cookies, and only getting to eat grain when he is caught, sure has worked well.  I hope this training will transfer to Lindsey when she picks him up this Sunday.

After I finished my barn chores I went looking for the halter and rope.  It was no where to be found in his section of the field.  So I started looking in Simon’s, and sure enough, there it was, fully in tact and completely in Simon’s field about 10 yards from Cooper’s.  This pretty much clarifies who was taking the halter off of Cooper.

The halter remover

March 12, 2013

Yesterday Cooper showed a lot of improvement.  He nickered at me when he saw me walk up to the fence.  He nickered again when I brought his feed out and actually walked towards me.  When I reached for the lead I have left attached to him, he turned and trotted away.  But then stopped and let me walk up and take hold of his rope.  What improvement!

Simon does not like it when another pony gets more attention than him.  Or more accurately, he does not like it when anything other than him gets any attention.

It might be hard to tell but he is smiling.

March 10, 2013

Yesterday I attempted to catch Cooper again.  He was much more receptive and let me run my hand down his back several times, but he was still not letting me get a rope over his neck.  After about 10 minutes of playing “catch the pony” my friend, and teammate, Carol Ann called to chat.  I mentioned I was in the middle of attempting to halter Cooper and, Carol Ann, knowing the barn set up, which includes ways to quickly section off the barn yard to keep multiple ponies separated, suggested I shrink his area up until he is forced into the barn.

Brilliant.

So I strung up a piece of tape from the barn door to the fence.  And then I strung a second tape from the other side of the barn door to the fence, but I left this piece laying flat on the ground.  I then walked around the barn and Cooper slowly moved ahead of me and into my snare.  I pulled up the second piece of tape and closed him in.

Score.

Almost.

He put his head under the tape and scooted out under it.

Drat.

So I lowered the tape, and tried again.  This time I didn’t even get to pull up the second side before he strolled into the barn like it was no big deal.

I closed the door, and slipped him into two halters and let him have grain.

When I put him back out, I left the two halters on, and attached a long line to the top, breakaway halter.

He is improving.  He is letting me touch him more when he is loose, and I feel if he had a halter on it wouldn’t have been much of an issue.  He is also starting to really enjoy treats and gobbles them up more readily.

Standing in the barn yard, munching away.

Reward – you get grain!

He stands so nice in cross ties, and enjoys a nice brushing.

March 9, 2013

When I went out to feed yesterday I was met by a naked pony.  Cooper’s halter, and long line that I had left on him the day before were both off.  Naked face.  Oh no.

I found the halter and lead in a neat little pile, smack in the middle of the barn yard.  The halter was still clipped closed and perfectly intact.  It wasn’t near the fence or a post, just neatly coiled into a deep mud puddle, surrounded by snow.  It is highly possible Simon assisted in its removal, or perhaps Cooper handled it all on his own.

I spent about 20 minutes with a bucket of feed in my hand, trying to get a rope over his neck.    I was able to run my hand down his back a few times, but he never let me get the rope over him.  If he had had a halter on I am sure I would have been successful.  Towards the end he was starting to get a little less calm, so I decided to put the feed up and throw in the towel for the night.

I’ll try again tomorrow.   And when I do get a halter on him, I am layering a second one on top.