Day 1 of Mustang Camp!

First full day at Mustang Camp.

I'm already learning tons, just talking to Pat and the other intern Sasha.

Pat just got a new German Shepherd x Heeler mix. Her name is Annie. So stinking cute! She's 9 weeks old. Pat has been teaching her a new trick every day. Today I did a little demo with Annie of Repeat Sits Backwards and converting that to Repeat Sits on the Left Side. Of course the little puppy did fantastic and was readily doing Repeat Sits on my Left Side away from the wall and stopping all on her own. Later in the day when I came into the room she ran over and sat :) I gave her some love and when I walked forward she was in perfect heel position looking up at me. She even stopped and sat when I stopped walking. Yay Annie! She's hopefully going to grow up to be a great dog. A couple concerning things though: first, she has a low threshold for frustration and needs to learn better impulse control (Pat says she's going to play the Leave It games with her, so that should help), and second, I've seen her chasing her tail and suddenly grabbing at and biting her back legs. I'm not sure what to make of it. The biting seems to be displacement when she can't get what she wants and gets frustrated. I only saw the tail chasing once though and I was able to call her attention and get her to chase a tug toy.

Today I met all the horses (and the zebra!)

First, there was Lefty and Roaney. I worked with the two of them a little bit, just hand-feeding and feeding them out of a bag of hay. Lefty is, as Pat put it, more committed to whatever he is feeling -- he is comfortable and in your face one second and suddenly the wind blows the wrong way or I shift my weight wrong and he's snorting and running away. Roaney on the other hand is more cautious than Lefty, but also less spooky.

Next was the pen of three big boys. Chester the mule, Cracker the hinny, and Denali the mustang. Cracker is Pat's riding horse, who gets used when the mustangs are being saddle trained and are going out for a ride and need a seasoned buddy :)

Next, I met Dougie and Louie. Dougie (or Douglas) has an infected foot and  had been in quite a bit of pain until Pat put him on antibiotics last week. He's looking much better and putting way more weight on that foot. We are training him to put his foot in a bucket so that we can do a warm water bath to help speed up his recovery. Pat is training Louie to be a riding horse. I didn't get to interact with him much, but he was looking really good from a distance :)

Then came Jericho (gelding) penned with Comet and Dancer (the mares). The girls are done with the training regimen and are just waiting for homes. Denali is being broke to ride by Heather, one of the other interns who has gone back home for a few weeks.

Next, I met Sergeant Spoticus (aka Spot) the zebra and the four lady donekys. Spot is a temperamental young man who spends his time defending the gate between his pen and Denali's. The donkeys are being kept by Pat in hopes that one will mate with Spot and we will have Zonkey babies :)

Then we have the four black ponies. There's Vixen, Blitzen, Dasher, and Sugarfoot. Vixen's the most flighty, both Blitzen and Sugarfoot are working on a behavior called stipling (please excuse my terrible lack of ability to spell), where they cock one of their back legs. Dasher fell into a water trough last winter and suffered from terrible frostbite, so she spent the winter indoors -- and as a result has become a spoiled monster child -- a far cry from her more mustang-y black pony buddies.

Next there's Hammer and Amigo. The two of them have already been adopted, but they are still here to get additional training. Sasha is working with Amigo, who is showing great progress. Hammer was Heather's project, but I may be working with him so that he doesn't get to far behind Amigo's progress since they're going to the same home.

Then there's Cisco. Really the only way to describe this horse is that he's a beautiful giant. We used him today so Sasha could learn how to grind hooves (which they are doing with Amigo).

Last but absolutely not least is Zarvona. I believe he is the most flighty/spooky horse we have at the camp right now. He has been at camp for over a year now. Sasha is working with him now, going back through all the behaviors he has previously learned and filling in where he has forgotten or regressed on tasks. Zarvona is a fantastic example of lateralization, which Pat is giving a talk about at the Animal Behavior Society's annual conference later this month.

It was a long day, but so much fun. Looking forward to learning more tomorrow, the day after, and for the next 10 weeks!!!