Confirmed: He is actually 2 years old

So today I go out in the field to fetch Hampton. It's quite a walk out to the grass where the herd is grazing. I catch him, and go to walk toward the barn. The horse plants his feet and WON'T MOVE. I try to take him off balance, doesn't really work. So I get after him a bit and make him lunge a few circle to get him moving his feet. Great. Go to lead again. Stops. Won't move. If I stand beside him and swat him with the lead rope behind me, he flies backwards. So I end up backing him halfway up to the barn. I gave him several chances to go forward and walk with me, but he wouldn't - so we kept backing up. A few times he reared, and once he struck out with a front leg. Luckily I wasn't in firing range. He finally changes his mind as we get closer to the barn and the rest of the day went smoothly. I made it easy for him and just lunged in the round pen. But we were both out of breath and sweaty after trying to walk in from the pasture. GEEZ! Now I will be bringing a whip with me so that this doesn't happen again. Ah, babies.

Here horsie horsie



When I first showed Hampton the clippers, he spent about an hour pouting in the back of his stall snorting like a bull. (I had hung them on his stall door so he could deal with it while I went and rode). Turning them on also got the snorting reaction and cowering in his stall. Now I can turn them on, run them on his neck (obviously I don't clip his neck hair), and occationally touch his nose and clip some whiskers. He is still a bit leery, but mostly it's just ticklish now and he'll get over that, too. If only baths were making the same progress.



A thirsty pony!