Mr.Bear and Faxi´s progress

 

 

This day started in the best possible way! Phil took Hayley with him outside for a couple of hours and I slept in. Haven´t done much of that lately.

Faxi is gaining confidence every day. As he gets more and more confident I ask for a little bit more every day. From the day he got here I´ve asked him to come up to me and say hallo before feeding time, consistently, every time. In the beginning I had to wait for him, he was very cautious but it didn´t take long for him to realize what I wanted him to do. Directly after he comes up the hay comes out! The next day I asked for a little bit more, the next a little bit more than the day before and so on. If he understands and he´s not afraid but choose to not cooperate I drive him away. We both have a calm understanding and I like him a lot. Yesterday I briefly leaned over his back for the first time. I still haven´t had a halter on him. That´s the next step and I believe he will be ready for that very soon.

 

Faxi´s favourite spot is under the sprinkler!

 

 

I have been a little bit concerned over the shape of one of his hoofs.  A little voice in my head has spoken more than once that something isn´t 100% right. Since I´m not an expert on hooves but have more experienced people around me that haven´t said anything I haven´t listened to that little voice in my head. Last night Phil asked me (he have a degree in farrier science and is the one trimming our horses’ hooves,)  if I thought that I was going to be able to ride Faxi on 100mile rides in the future. I asked him why he asked me that to found out if my fears were true..He also noticed that same hoof. We still have to find out more about it. When Faxi is ready to let us have a closer look. Phil thinks it might be a genetic fault. Sort of a light kind of club foot. I hope we´re both wrong!! Even if he´s not going to be the endurance horse I´m hoping for I´m not going to be able to sell him now. I like him too much. Still hoping for the best though!!

I had a plan to put a halter on Faxi this morning and walk him a short distance to a spot with lots of grass. To make the experience as positive as possible. I feed Hayley and put her in the baby carrier. I decided to go without him first to make Hayley fall asleep and check out the spot. As we came into the grassy spot  we walked right into Mr.Bear. He was eating blackberries right next to our little trail. I had both dogs with me. Or Stella was not exactly with me, she was somewhere in the woods. Neikka was right next to me. The bear stayed calm and so did we. I bet Neikka knows when there is no aggression in the air. The bear walked away and we turned around and went back home. Happy I didn´t bring Faxi! That would have been some kind of a first walk..I sent Phil a text on my way home to inform him about the bear and he met us outside the gate. I pointed out the direction of the bear and he took another trail so that he also would meet the bear! Or at least see him. Since I´m the one spending the most time out and around the ranch I´ve seen the bear several times.  He´s only seen the tracks, scats and markings on the trees. He´s been out there for two hours now. I´m not worried about him though, he´s probably the most dangerous animal out there! Looking forward to hear about his adventures when he comes home. To be continued……