Racing Ahead With the Boys - One Step at a Time!

I will even stick my head through this hole for pellets!

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since I last posted about the boys!  So much has happened since then both with me and the boys.

As I waited for the tools to arrive, I spent time reading and studying the new new ways to work with the boys.  The most important thing I think I've learned is that it's me that has to be trained and then they are simply handled properly.  It's a new concept to me, that all I want from them is to accept me as their handler and learn to do nothing.  I don't mean that they won't learn to do things, they will, but first they just need to stand still and do nothing!  And I have to breathe!

I continued to go out to the pasture and stall and give them their treats (alpaca pellets) when they come to me.  And now when they see me coming they almost run, well, actually Sammy does run to me.  He's the two year old and he has his own way of doing everything and is proving to be the most difficult to work with, but he's had two years of no handling, so I think that's to be expected.  I am seeing progress with him.

Lefty with his head between my arm and body to eat treats!

So all of my tools arrived on Friday, so I practiced using the catch rope on the bar stool and then on our carousel horse in the back yard.  I tried it on Bill too, but decided the horse is the best!  He probably likes that idea too; however, we will be using the rope on each other to learn how to "not" hold and to help learn balance without force.  (He doesn't know this yet, but he will help)

Monday I headed out to see what I could do.  I would love to say I headed out with confidence that I would accomplish great things, but I was actually not expecting much, if anything.  They still pulled away if they even thought I was reaching out to them.  But, Marty said in her book that you can't build trust just hanging out with them.  You must work with them, they must learn to trust you as you do things with them and expect them to respond, so there I was ready to get one in the catch pen.

Well, I got three in the catch pen.  It was the first time they had seen that the pen could be cut in half and it didn't seem to bother them, but now I had to get two out.  Amazingly, using my wand I was able to herd two out and was left with just Lefty.  I began running the wand down the back of his neck and across his body as he stood and looked out the gate at the other two.  Sammy and Pancho were right outside looking in and I'm sure wondering when I was going to throw my arms around Lefty's neck and hold him in a death grip, but that never happened.  I moved around with him in a non-threatening way and as I offered him so food I began to touch the top of his head.  When he pulled away, I stopped!  He would walk away and then come right back and I increased the touching.  There are some massage techniques and I began to use them on his head.  So there it was  - he came up, I touched, he walked away and when about 15 minutes were up, I released him.

My first thought was and now I need to get another one in, but guess what?  It appears that they had watched closely and saw that Lefty was getting food inside the pen and they were not!  And so Pancho came rushing in!  I worked with him and he wasn't quite as agreeable as Lefty, but it was a good session and then there was Sammy!  When it was his turn he burst into the pen!  He wanted his share of the goodies, but he really didn't want to do anything to get them!  He paced, he didn't want the wand near him, he wanted treats, but he didn't want me to touch him in any way.  Now remember he's our two year old, so he's gone twice as long without human touch, so I'm really not surprised by his attitude and worked with as much as I could and ended the day.

I was pleased and excited because I had hope!

Lefty letting me rub his head for a snack!

Tuesday I worked with them once in the morning and again in the afternoon.  Both Lefty and Pancho let me touch them more and more and Lefty actually seemed to enjoy the massaging on his head and neck. Sammy really didn't want it at all!  I remembered reading somewhere that you could take the bowl of food, hold it to your back with your arm forming a circle and see if they will place their head through the circle!  And he did!!!!!  First he looked at the bowl and my arm and then slowly moved forward and stuck his head through.  Think about this, now his neck was surrounded by body and arm. He didn't stay long, but he came right back and so this is how I've worked with him on Tuesday.

Sammy being this close to me is just amazing!  

Yesterday there were two more sessions and everyone is doing better.  Well, almost!  In the morning I had a hard time getting them out of the pen and leaving just one and so I worked with Lefty with everyone in the pen and then finally was down to one Sammy.  Again we worked with the circle and he began to let me touch the top of his head for a few seconds before he moved away.  Each time I tried it was a little longer.  And then I let him out and tried to get Pancho in.  All three wanted to come in and I finally took the bowl out and did the circle with Pancho outside of the pen and guess what he stuck his head right through the circle!  Then I just led him into the pen and we had our time together.  He was much better.  The second session was after Bill got home and he was able to snap a couple of pictures.  He was amazed as I worked with them!  Pancho was first and didn't get his picture taken, but here are the other two!  What I need to take is a picture of Pancho looking through the gate watching the Lefty get food!  I really believe they're learning from each other!

I am so excited!  When I let them back out they don't take off they just hang around me .  I really do see hope, but I'm taking it slow.  We are taking this one step at a time!  Next week I will try the catch rope, but if they're not ready, I will slow back down.