Her new mom

Well, after battling a week-long case of acute tonsillitis, I finally felt well enough to go visit Wishes today. The weather has turned cold and windy, but fortunately, it wasn't raining like yesterday.

Wishes has been moved to her new stall, and is all alone. Her old pal, Fortune, is her next-door neighbor, though, and they keep each other company. Having seen the way the Shiloh staff wrangles the foals whenever they need to move them, I knew that the move was probably traumatic for her. Sure enough, she did not like me coming in her stall, and quickly moved as far away from me as she could get. I felt a bit dejected, especially after last week's wonderful visit, but decided that if she was going to move, I was going to make her think it was my idea that she was moving. So, I grabbed a lead rope and swung it behind her to keep her moving around in circles. As soon as she'd stop in a corner, I'd pressure her to keep moving. Only when I decided it was time to stop, would I back off and let her stop briefly. Then I'd step forward again and get her moving. After 10 minutes of this "game", I backed off and just stood in the middle of her stall. She must have had enough of running, because she turned right around and looked at me and waited. I approached her slowly, and much to my delight, she let me start petting her. I was able to get that darn halter off of her, and she seemed truly grateful. I pet her for quite awhile, and then went to go visit other horses for a bit. For the rest of the day, she let me approach her every time I went into her stall again. She even let me lift two of her legs! I spent most of the time just trying to scratch the mud off of her coat, which she seemed to love. She even gave my coat an affectionate nibble, as though she was trying to groom me too! I can't get over how far we've already come. I think she's adopted me as her new mom.