Well-Socialized Ponies

Red and Rhio have moved again - about 3 hours south of their previous home in the northwoods of Wisconsin, to the Green Bay/Appleton area.  (Obviously, C., I, and the dogs have moved as well!) As expected, my adaptable boys have settled right in.  They trailered with ease (many thanks to friends B. and T. for taking a day and their rig to move them!) and we arrived at their new barn after dark.  I don't generally recommend arriving at night, but this time of year, with sunset at 4 pm, it just couldn't be helped.  They moved into their own paddock and went straight to eating hay and having a good roll. 

We all think about socializing puppies at a young age, making sure our dogs are good canine citizens, exposed to lots of different experiences and able to live among us humans companionably.  Does anyone think about socializing horses?  I suppose some do - but mostly we think about training them to a specific discipline, to instilling good ground manners so that us puny humans can handle animals many times our size without harm, to bending their flight-or-flight prey instincts and wandering ways to fit into our nice neat boxes.  After years of boarding in different places, trailering in different trailers with unfamiliar horses, camping at endurance rides, and sharing the trails with numerous unknown equines, I would say my boys are also well socialized.  They play well with others, horse and human alike.  They get along.  They are relaxed in new environments.  They are easy for anyone to handle.  They adapt to new food sources and methods of feeding, to new water and waterers/tanks/buckets/etc, to new types of fencing and shelter, to new routines, and to new buddies with ease.  I am very lucky.  And they give the Arabian breed a good name - as many folks unfamiliar with Arabs, or only familiar with the 'hot' show Arabs, would never expect them to be so dependable, so predictable, so unflappable, so resilient, so personable, and so calm. 

Meeting new friends across the fence

Paying attention to the new stuff here

Play time!

Love the ears shot!

Yup - life is good.