January, 2008

Leroy has integrated with the herd rather well. He is still bottom of the pecking order, but a couple of times the lead mare, Lakota, moved the other horses away from him, and blocked them so that they could not harass him. She's a good girl. Ana likes to hang out with Leroy, and she is often at the hay pile next to his. She does boss him around a bit, I think she gets a kick out of it that she can move somebody around.

I can't really tell how much weight Leroy is gaining, its very hard to tell under all that hair. Of course, if he would let me put a blanket on him, I'm sure he would gain faster. I should be able to get the dentist to see him soon, I just want to spend a little more time catching and releasing him, to get him a bit more confident. He didnt' want to be caught when the farrier was here, so we left him alone. I can catch him on my own anytime, but not if someone else is around. His hooves look great though, he is self-trimming, and has a nice mustang roll and a beautiful heel first landing on any terrain.

I was a little worried about making sure he was able to get enough water after I put all the horses together. Leroy won't walk past any of the girls, and if they were under the run-in in bad weather, I was afraid they wouldn't let him up for water. Well, apparently he understood my worries, and he leaves me a nice, big pile right in front of the water tank, so I know each day and night that he has been to the water tank. LOL!

He's a very smart horse, and also very sweet. He now presents his butt to me for scratching, and comes up for attention every day. Once the weather is better, I'm sure that spending more time with him will have him my pocket in no time.