June 8, 2008

I figured out a sneaky way to have Billie let me pet her with the bamboo pole. I place her feed bucket at the side of the pen so that I can stand beside her outside the pen and rub her with the pole! She really didn't like it at first, but she was hungry and kept coming back to the feed. After a few minutes, she didn't mind the pole any more! Over the past few days I've been able to rub her with the pole from the withers up to her ear, back down to her tail head, down each leg, under her neck, under her belly, down the sides...well all over. I tried to use the pole while standing inside the pen again, and although she wasn't "wild pony" like the first time, she was clearly not too thrilled with it. I think this will change and she'll be used to it in a few more days. Now when I walk past her, I can stroke all the way from her ears down to her rump. I can even stroke down her legs as far as her knee (front) with no reaction. I'm just letting her get used to me touching touching touching.