Happy New Year

The three months I've been here in Arizona have flown by. It's a long season in some ways but right now it's feeling very short! Life continues much the same: serving meals, hanging out in the sun, eating too many cookies, riding a few times. One exciting thing last week was that Charley and the wranglers started working with the colts -- they're about 6-7 months old -- and we all got to watch. Before now they've been handled very little, so now the halter-breaking begins. First each colt was brought down to be branded and then received his halter and lead rope and was tied onto a line stretched across the middle of their small paddock. The guys worked pretty quickly and before long had all eight colts on the line in a row. A couple of them were totally calm but most were fighting their leads and throwing themselves around. We felt bad for the cute little things in their distress but they were fine; it's just a normal part of horse life! The wranglers were very gentle and patient with them and it was amazing to watch them gain control and trust from the colts in just a few minutes. They're not done, of course. It's a weeks long process that I'm sure will include some little colt temper tantrums! I went down to their paddock to see them yesterday. Two of them let me touch them but the others were still a bit skittish. I intend to visit regularly and win them over :-)