Ranger's Journey: Day 6
Updated: Apr 27, 2020
First of all, Ranger is pretty puffed up about his growing fan club. He says no one at his former home had any followers at all, and he didn't even know there were such things until he was able to get on the internet yesterday. I thought he was just watching the WAC budgeting video, but apparently he was doing a little surfing and saw some of the comments people wrote about keeping them up to date with his journey here. Certainly that had something to do with him being 110% PERFECT today. He was like an old pro with what we did, and quite proud of himself all in all.
Today was "Going to the Spa With Friends" day - not a full spa with shampoo baths and clippers because it's only 33 degrees out there, but a Mud Season Spa (short version). The other part of that was "Standing at the Hitchrail Half Asleep" training because he had such a bad day with the farrier. I wanted to see if he got past that with a different approach.
He picked Sami to go along with him which was a good choice because she is good for everything. Leia decided to stay in the pasture with Zane and get completely covered in sloppy, wet mud instead. (Zane, our white Arab, is a terrible role model for cleanliness. He is only white in a select number of photographs.)
Sami got to go first for everything so Ranger could watch and see what the whole thing was about. It was pretty simple: Currycomb to get the most hair off, then jelly scrubber for muddy legs, then Cowboy Magic in manes and tails, then mane and tail braiding. Ranger was dumbstruck. Not only had he never had all of his mane on the same side before, but then he couldn't understand a single word I said because my mouth was full of little rubber bands. I did have to take a photo of his stunningly gorgeous tail before I braided it - what a showpiece!
Last of all was fetlock trimming with scissors (clippers are WAAAAYYYY down the road). Since he had really come unglued with the hitchrail/hoof trimming I really had no idea what to expect. Sami was an angel during her turn and he watched carefully. When it was his turn he stood like a rock and even tried to pick up his feet for me. Since that wasn't what I asked I just kept on snipping away - a couple times I held his hoof anyway while I cut the hair off since it made him feel good that, in his mind, he did something right. Afterwards I picked up each muddy little hoof and held it for photos and he was as good as gold for all of it.
His former owners said he wouldn't take anything from your hand, but he watched Sami get a couple of horse treats. I gave him a chance to take them from me and he ate all 3 so that, too, was a brave step. Afterwards he and Sami went out for a drink to show off their new tails. The others were jealous, I'm sure, but this is tail week so they will all get a chance!
That was a lot for today - he was super easy to catch and halter this morning for breakfast and again this afternoon. I am so proud of him. He is the best little guy and I am grateful he came into my life. Some of my friends think he's a return of Wyatt - who knows? We certainly have a nice connection so maybe so.