Brian breaks Zephyr out of jail...

Zeph has been here two weeks.  Brian told me he had a two week plan....the first two weeks he was just going to hang with Zeph and let her get settled in.  He would go in her pen, mess with her there, but not put a halter on her. 

Today was halter day, and Brian took her out in the yard to explore all the 'stuff' sitting around.  Lord knows there is enough of it! 

I got the picture of her not paying attention, but I missed the one of her touching the barrel.  Yay me!

A tarp was over some stuff on the flatbed, and Thomas the cat was coming up from behind...that is more than one thing at a time so Zeph said "No thank you, I will wait for the cat to go first."  Zeph eventually walked up to the trailer and sniffed at it, and sniffed at Thomas who had jumped up on the trailer.

 Time to move on to the next thing...

(Zeph is pushy, but she really does do well leading on a loose rope...with a few reminders of what is and is not expected, she will be great again.  I say AGAIN because I have no doubt she was great with her previous person)

 Thomas is in the dog house...he thinks this might be the safest place for him right now.  Brian is ...well, I don't know what he is doing.  I was sitting on a rock observing the behavior patterns of the homosapien and the equine.  :-)

BRIAN:   "It is a log.  Touch it....touch it...."

ZEPH:  "Huh?"

ZEPH:  "I don't see anything.  You are trying to fool me."

BRIAN:  "No, right here...touch this spot right here...see?"

ZEPH:  "Ooooohhhhhh, THAT spot!  Yes, it looks like a branch that once was."

BRIAN:  "Yes!  Good girl!!!!"

ZEPH:  "Good girl?  For seeing a branch that once was?  Um, okay...go with it....Thank you Boy!  I try!"

Brian could lead her over the log, but she did not want to be asked to go over on her own.  They worked on that a while and then SUCCESS!

Brian lets her know she did great!  Brian worked on getting her to step over and stop.  Not rush so much.  After a couple good times of that, they moved on.

Time to go the other direction.  Hemi is watching to make sure their technique is acceptable.

HEMI:  "Out with the cat, in with me!   I can see better from here!"

 




Time to see if she will longe.  At first she was not sure what he was asking, and Brian was trying to figure out how to ask her so she would understand.  They worked it out....






Zeph focuses too much on what is going on outside the circle but she doesn't pull on the rope that much.  It gives Brian a good idea of what she can and cannot do.  

The "Whoa" and stop to face Brian.  She kept wanting to approach, so they worked on that in baby steps and she finally did stand still.

You know how they say pets and their humans start to look alike??????  Ha ha!

The scary trash can!  The wind had blown it over so Brian started kicking it around.  Zeph said she didn't like the trash can.

 Okay, maybe it isn't so bad....as long as it stays down there...





ZEPH:  "I am not so sure about this....I will give it the Stink Eye!"





Brian picked it up and walked around the yard with it...that way Zeph could 'chase' the scary thing.

ZEPH:  "Whew!  Stink Eye worked!"

ZEPH:  "Oh oh...it stopped and is facing me!"

ZEPH:  "Ooooohhh, this is scary!  I will close my eyes and when I open them maybe it will be gone!"




ZEPH:  "ACK!  IT IS ON ME!!!!  GET IT OFF!!!  Okay, drama didn't work...I will just stand here and see what happens.  The Boy surely won't let me get hurt.  I am still getting to know him so I don't know what he is capable of.  The Girl likes him a lot, so he can't be too bad."

ZEPH:  "Sniff sniff...holy smokes!  What has been in here?  Oh wait, it doesn't hurt.  HEY!  This is not scary at all!"

ZEPH:  "AAAHHHHH!!!!  What the heck?  Run Boy run!!!!  It jumped in the air and stuck on your arm!  RUN!!!!"

ZEPH:  "Oh wait....as long as I run faster it will eat him first and I can get away!"

ZEPH:  "Yikes, I am trying to be brave!  The Boy seems to be just fine so this thing can't be that bad.  It is touching my back.  Now why would this thing want to touch my back? I know I have a cute back but...really?"

ZEPH:  "It wants a ride on my back?  Am I doing this right?  I will just stand here and wait for instruction.  I really don't know what to do at this point..."

 ZEPH:  "Whew, it is down again...okay, sniff sniff sniff...same ugly smell.  And no food.  That was not so bad."

ZEPH:  "Wait a minute...I already did this.  My other brain told me so...I think.  Okay, if it wants to ride on me it can ride on me...what harm can it do?"

BRIAN:  "Hee hee!!!!"

ZEPH:  "Been there done that..."

During all of this Thomas thought he would help add an obstacle to the mix.  Everyone gets in on the fun around here!

  Zeph was such a good girl!!!!

It is time for a break....heading to the grassy hill to soak things in and enjoy a treat.

During all of this, Hemi was taking it all in.

Thomas was there to help too.

Thomas smooching me...

Oh, focus Karen....back to break time....

Brian and Zeph hung out on the hill and relaxed a while.  I am very excited about these two together. 

Break time is over...time to head back to the muddy pen.  Ugh!  (More rain coming in so this weekend we are going to panel off another area for her)






Zeph had to deal with the inside group and their Nosey Nancy attitudes.  Poor Zeph felt attacked!  She really did great except for one thing....

The llama....she detest the llama...and the llama doesn't care.  Chase has been kicked by Zeph twice now, and I am surprise ribs were not broken!  Llamas must be tougher than what I thought.

See Chase over her back?  He just doesn't care at all...all he cares about is a new girlfriend (yes, Chase has been gelded but he doesn't care about that either).  Zeph is letting him know up front:  "That is now how I roll llama!"

Brian gets Zeph back in the pen...her safe area.  Chase is right there the whole time...

...and Zeph gives him the "LOOK"!

When she does this, Brian tries to get her mind back on him....so he found her itchy spot behind her ear.

 



Zeph makes faces at everyone else too, but not as bad as Chase.  I watched this exchange for a while...Zeph acted like she really was interested in Hershey.

And leave it to Chase to ruin the moment...that darn llama!

Tripplette licking my face...






Selp portrait time with the mini's...






Hershey still ha a long tooth so she still packs stuff on that side.  She will have a vet visit soon to grind down more tooth.  I can't believe how long it was compared to the others.  The vet didn't want to take it down all at one time.  Hersh gets some softened food morning and night, and she can eat hay pretty good.   





Flowers!!!!  It is Spring!!!!  Woo hoo!!!!




I am very excited about Brian and Zeph, and how Zeph is with us.  At feeding time she started out right on top of us, and asking nicely for her to move back was not successful.  She acted like we didn't mean her...we meant someone else.  She still gets in our bubble but will back up when we lightly touch her chest.  As long as she stands still a few seconds without trying to move us out of her way, we let her have her food dish.  If not, we do the lesson again.  It really didn't take her long to get it.  Teaching her about not running us over for food reminded me of Wyoming when he came back here.  He was very VERY thin when he came back and when he saw food, he charged for it.  It took a while for me to teach him that he will never have to fight for food again....he will always have a meal, and he will be polite about it.  Zeph was not starved, but she was pushy.  With time they all can learn...I truly believe that.

Until later....Karen and Tripp who has decided to play the running away from the Girl game this morning...and he can't figure out why the Girl didn't want to play.