All quiet on the eastern front

Now, what's been happening?

Max is back in town, sharing a paddock with the Big Boys as of Monday. Initially he was in with Chad, The Pony (aka Painintheass) but their feed requirements were a bit different and they were not doing well. So we swapped Max with one of the other boys.

He looked a bit confused and lost at first. And when I left to go home he stood and looked at me as if to say "Haven't you forgotten to put me back where I belong?". Each morning he is waiting at the fenceline, but as it has only been a few days, I'm not too worried. There is certainly no loss of appetite to indicate a problem!

I have been working hard on his float training. As much as possible I feed him in the float which works well as he is like the horse version of a Labrador. As in "food is good, more food is better". So he happily clomps up the ramp to get to his feed. The problem is that he tends to grab a mouthfull, then back out to the ramp so that he can see what is going on around him. Not helpful if you are trying to teach him to stand there calmly. So I just quietly put him back in. And repeat. And repeat. Hopefully this will sink in soon.

I have taken him on a few short trips around the block to give him good experiences of travelling. This weekend I hope to take a longer drive to the local indoor arena. He will then get off, eat hay,  be fussed over and then go home again. (As long as I can get him back in the float).

Wish me luck!