Xeo and Xoia Day 2 - Pole Gentling

Xeo and Xoia were born and raised in a herd of horses on 600 acres of Wyoming grassland. This more natural start to their lives has several advantages: they are well socialized, having been taught manners by their dams and herd mates, and they haven't yet had the opportunity to develop bad habits around humans, either. They were brought in off the range a few weeks ago for weaning and are used to people being around, but they have not really been handled much.

On the first day after their arrival, I just hung out with them in their pen for a couple of hours. They were curious enough to come up and sniff at me, and Xoia, the filly, who is both older and naturally bolder than Xeo and has had a bit more exposure to humans, carefully took some alfalfa pellets from my outstretched hand. They wouldn't let me touch them, though.

On the second day I decided to try out something I had seen people do when working with feral mustangs: pole gentling. Essentially, it involves using a long bamboo pole to make physical contact with the horse and get it used to being touched while remaining at a comfortable and safe distance for both horse and handler. Now, these two aren't really wild, and I didn't have a long bamboo pole to hand, so I used my 4' horseman's stick. Bingo! Both of them discovered that they quite enjoyed being scratched by the stick.