UPDATED Harry pictures from today, the 25th!

[snelson]

He is filling in nicely. Looks really really good for an unknown He had his first halter lesson at 3 days old and from that time on he walks right up to us and we can rub him all over and pick up all his feet. He has had the halter on 2 more times and he leads pretty good....for a baby He follows along nicely but then decides he wants to go elsewhere and then remembers he has his halter on!! But he has learned to give to the pressure amazingly quick.

He comes running up from the pasture when he hears us arrive even when Margo just ambles. He looks to us to swish the flies off him while he is pretending to eat grain like his mom! He shoves his nose down into his halter rather than trying to lift it up and away from it.

He really has turned out to be a great "surprise:!

[ride4fun]

How fun. And it looks like you got a bay paint. I love the bay paint or bay and black tricolors.

[Idaho Linda]

What a winner! He is pretty and has a good mind. That is pretty much the goal of all PLANNED breedings.

[Jenni]

Why do you think Margo is TWH? The pics you have posted of her and baby totally look like a stock horse to me. He's a cute little bugger too.

[snelson]

Thanks Linda We did get lucky with our "accident"

Jenni...she gaits She doesn't have a trot but moves in a running walk and a rack movement. Not that I have taken her out to really check since first she was way underweight and then really pregnant! And in between it was cold so we only rode in the indoor...not much room to get a fast gait out of her. Once Harry is a little bit older I will take her out in the open and see what she does.

I am very inclined to think Harry is definitely stock horse...he doesn't have the same foot fall as Margo does.

[Marci]

Gosh he is cute! Love the bay pintos.

[snelson]

Thanks everyone He decided tonight he was not going to be the nice cooperating guy he has been while leading...guess he was feeling pretty independent So we had to have a leading lesson for about 20 minutes until it ended nicely. He was pretty sure if he threw a temper tantrum he would not have to come along with me. I absolutely love the little ones...they are so much fun to teach. He already moves away from pressure. I have him move his hip over for me every single day and now I just have to press a little bit on his rib and he steps sideways.

[Jenni]

Such a nice young man. It's so much easier to start when they are young. I love the babies too, wish I could have one every year but then I would have to sell them and I hate that!

[Frostym]

He is adorable and smart! Thanks for sharing news of him. You are doing a great job starting him. Hoe many foals have you worked with before? How and why did you get his mother?

[snelson]

Thanks Frostym...We got his mom due to the fact we moved to a different barn and my girls no longer had access to the dead broke horses they had been riding. Mine are trained but can be a handful. So my daughter started looking for a MFT....and we found one but was NOT what was advertised. The lady we got him from was nice enough to find us something else and we got Margo.

As far as how many other foals I have worked with....lots My "old" mare that I had from a yearling did have 4 foals that we had kept for ourselves (my ex and I ) and then we fell into a few Arabian broodmares that the owner needed to part with and wanted to go to a good home. They were heavily bred when we got them and we had those foals and then a couple every year for about 4 years. My gelding Flint came to Illinois as a 4 month old colt that was barely halter broke so worked with him and then Pebbles mom came to live with us while she was carrying Pebbles. That mare was very very very nasty when it came to protecting her baby so I didn't get to really do anything with Pebbles until she was about 2 1/2 months.

Have learned a lot from the time we had our first foal and still learn something new from each one!

I am LOVING having Margo and Harry. Margo is such a wonderful mare, so easy going and not fazed by much of anything. Harry is just plain fun

[Frostym]

You are a real inspiration and have given lots of horses a good start in their life. WTG!

[Yip]

What a cutie, and so willing! I don'y know nothin' 'bout raising babies!

[Yip]

I am so envious. Joy seems to have a good mind, but is not ready to be caught. I don't want to "trap" or just grab her. I'm hoping she's just not ready yet....and will be ready next week.

[Marci]

With Fani..... Course I was there from moment one and had my hands on her before she knew who momma was. But I found that holding her between one arm on her chest and one around her bottom taught her to deal better with being cooperative. Be firm but gentle. And scratch a lot. The earlier you start the better as far as I am concerned. Its a lot easier to halter break a week old than a month old. LOL
Remember there is a lot of instances in her life where the feeling of being trapped will happen, teaching them to trust that no harm will come to them early keeps them from freaking out later. Case in point when Fani caught the halter ring on the door handle of the stall. (I had closed and locked it but well she learned how to unlock the stalls, was quite skillful at it.) But she didn't lose her mind simply looked to me and let me fix it. Could have been bad since the door was closing on her nose.

[snelson]

Agree with Marci. Harry didn't want to be caught the first time either...he would walk right up to us and sniff us but didn't want us touching him. I used the arm around his butt and an arm on his chest while the bo put the halter on the first time. Then we touched him everywhere. Even when he didn't like it, just kept the pressure on until he stopped moving and then when we went back to that spot he was just fine.

From that day on he was easy to touch..I did have to arm him a couple of times to put the halter over his nose because he would throw his head in the air and back up. But lots of patience and now I can walk up to him wherever he is and put his halter on. I do put the lead rope around his neck in case he scoots back. I don't want him to ever know he can get away like that...at least until I can do ground work with him.

Joy will get there....she is going to be so much fun for you