More Training

That lady is finally starting to come around and bring us carrots and apples.  All this week, we have been working on getting her trained and she seems to be doing pretty well!  She shows up with the big pockets full of carrots and a big bucket of apples.  Then we wait for her to put her hand on our sides or our chests and make certain noises, and when we step away or back up or pick up a foot or something, she has to give us a carrot.  It is working out pretty good.  But sometimes she has to go with one of the ponies in the new round pile of logs pen so that the other ponies can't bother us.  She took Billy and Harley and Toby in there and then she took me and little Perl too!  It is way better to be able to teach her stuff in there where Harley and Billy can't bite us.  Harley thinks he is the main teacher boss pony, but he is kind of lazy about it.  He thinks that no matter what she does or says, if he picks up his front foot, he should get a carrot.  So that wasn't working, so then he had to train the lady to do "riding".   She sits on his back and instead of her hand, she puts her leg against his side and if he steps to the side or back, he has her trained to give him a carrot.  He can't just stand there with his foot in the air then.  But he and Billy both think she is getting to be a pretty good student. She doesn't put any big leather things on their backs or those cold shiny metal pieces in their mouths, she just puts the other head strap thing on and then moves her arms or legs and says stuff like "Bak"  and "Ho" and "Wok" and "Step over."  The ponies are even teaching her to just move her weight a little bit and then they do easy stuff and she HAS to give them a carrot.  It is pretty much fun to see her progressing so well.       

Training

Well, you know, since the lady hasn't been coming back to give us carrots as much as she ought to be, us ponies were getting a little worried that her training is slacking off.  Fortunately, Little Krissy is living up by the barn with her daughter Belle and that Peaches, so she has been trying to work with the lady a little bit.  She has taught the lady to give her carrots when she sticks her nose against the lady's face  and when she picks up her hoof and holds it in the air.  The lady is also supposed to give her carrots when she nods her head up and down, but sometimes the lady is really inconsistent in her responses.  Like last week when that other lady was here and they were clipping little pieces off of those ponies' hooves.   Krissy was all done with her feet and the lady and the other lady were trimming that Peach's feet. So Krissy was getting a bit impatient to do some training of the lady and she started nodding her head up and down, but the lady was not catching on and didn't give her any carrots.  You can imagine how frustrating that must have been for poor Krissy.  I mean even a Vermonter has her limits.

So after she tried putting her head on BOTH ladies' shoulders and giving some kisses, she started nodding harder.  She was nodding her head so hard that her front feet came off the ground.  Well, THAT finally got the lady's attention.  And the good news is that Krissy got a carrot for doing that!  So the lady is learning how to properly reward excellent behaviors.  She thought Krissy was so cute when she tucked her little legs up and reared in the air.  So Krissy kept on working with the lady to get her to give more carrots.  Soon Krissy was rearing way up and looking way, way cute.  So now, Krissy just needs to keep working with her to get her to be more consistent.  Unfortunately, the lady seems to be slipping in her training and now she isn't giving carrots to Krissy for rearing.  So Krissy is a bit frustrated AGAIN, since the lady is only giving her carrots for biting a funny hat.  The rearing gets nothing.  But at least Krissy is keeping her busy and hopefully can get her over her erratic behaviors.                 

Lyme fallout

The lady has been neglecting us ponies big time.  I mean really.  Sure, we are hanging out here in this big pasture and we have grass and creeks and trees and deer and bunnies and hawks, but some carrots would be nice once in a while too.  The lady comes to see us about 2 times a day, in the morning and in the evening and then she leaves again.  She pets Harley, mostly because he just comes barging right up like he owns the place and he puts his head on her shoulder and then he gives kisses and tries to shake hands because he wants treats.  Of course, we would all like to do that too, but he or Billy will bite us if we try.   Billy only comes over if the lady doesn't have any of that pink stuff in a little jar.  The lady takes the pink stuff and smears it in our ears and on our faces and then we look really glamorous.   She put a bunch of it on a spot on Haylie's neck too, where Haylie had a scruffy spot and the scruffy spot went away.   Billy doesn't like to have stuff smeared in his ears.  He is pretty suspicious of stuff like that.

We have a couple of apple trees in our pasture and one right next to our pasture that is still covered with apples.  If the apples fall in our pasture, we eat them, but we can't get the ones on the other side of the white rope. So then the lady goes over there and throws the apples into our pasture.  What fun!  We all run around and try to grab the apples while avoiding getting bit by other ponies.  You have to be careful or an apple will come flying out and hit your face.  It is better to stand pretty far back from the fence so you can chase the apples, but some ponies stand right by where the lady is throwing and the apples end up zooming right by them.  The lady brought another lady with her to give us pedicures and help throw apples the other day.  It was that lady that I bit her hat.  That was a long time ago, but she is holding a grudge and wouldn't pet me when they were out here.  

I think the lady is spending all her time riding those big horses, because she walks funny when she is here.  She hasn't even used that fancy round log pen that the man put together.  She should just come back here and spend all her time with us.  And bring carrots. .