Luna's First Halter Story
After we had finally gotten back to Earth from Planet Vashta with our shipment of already tagged and claimed Neravontiis, we had unloaded the herd. I had taken my Neravontiis home, and began to work on my Ridgeback Young Mare for Halter Training. She's still a bit young for Riding but is more than ready to learn halter training and other ground work. After I had allowed the young mare to settle in for a few days, I had began to rework the first touch and gaining her trust day by day for a few days more before introducing any props. Over the couple of days bonding with the young mare I had learned about her and had chosen a name for her as well. I learned that she seemed to have a liking for fabrics and that she is quite curious. The name I had decided be great for her is Luna, Phantom of the Night.
One late night after caring for my all my animals on my ranch, I had grabbed a halter and large neravontii blanket. I strolled in the dark night and set the blanket and halter on the gate of Luna's Pasture. I whistled to Luna, and waited for her to approach. She walked up to the gate cautiously and curiously. I reached out for her to sniff my hand then opened the gate and moved into the pasture with Luna. She whinnied then trotted away, but in a circle, returning to check out what I had brought to her pasture. She sniffed at the blanket as I held it out to her and whinnied and snorted then nuzzled the blanket. She began to rub her face against the blanket then rubbed a little to aggressively knocking me to the ground. Luna got spooked and took off for a few seconds. I got back up and opened the blanket up. I swooshed the blanket around some to get her used to the object and it's movements. I approached her with the blanket and rubbed it over her neck and back a few times on both sides each before attempting to toss the blanket over her back. When I got the blanket onto her back and rubbed it around she seemed to be relaxed rather than spooked of the new object. After I had gotten her used to the blanket I buckled it to her, then grabbed the halter and helped her learn to trust the halter before putting it on her head and making her feel trapped. I swung the lead rope around until she got used to it's movements which took about 15 minutes. I then swung the lead rope around her neck and gave a gentle tug and drawing her in at the same time with body langue. I stopped then patted her lightly on the face before lifting the halter up to her face. She didn't really react so I slipped the halter onto her head. She seemed to get nervous but was more curious of what was around her face and if was something she could play with.
I slipped the halter on and buckled it then swung the lead rope over her neck and allowed her to roam her pasture and get used to it. Luna dashed off causing the lead rope to fall from her back and dangle. She had stepped on the lead rope causing herself to trip.
She got back up and just stood in place for a moment then when moved felt a tug due to her standing on the lead rope as it dangled on the ground. I walked over to Luna speaking to her softly. She looked over at me and nuzzled her face up against my jacket as I grabbed hold of the lead rope. I bent down to pick up her foot that was on the rope to help her figure things out then lead her to the gate. She seemed surprisingly seemed to do well with the halter and lead well for her first time. I walked Luna around her pasture with her attempting a few times to try and tug and pull and once even almost got away. After about 10 minutes of walking I had removed the blanket and halter and let her go for the night and work on her more the following days.
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