Playing with baby!!

I got to play with Baby Maizie in her stall today and was reminded of how precious foals are (that ticking you hear is my equine biological clock!) and also- how predictable they are and how much you can learn about horse behavior from a baby- all that instinct is right there- unfettered and in the raw!

I loved on momma for awhile and then sat in a corner of the stall. It took baby Maizie about 10 seconds to start eyeballing me from the other side of momma's belly, peeking underneath her and around the back of her.
Another minute later and she was tiptoeing over to see me- it was slow going because of the rain- anytime she heard a noise, she would jump and scamper back over to mom and peek under her belly at me again. I didn't move, and she'd slowly make her way back over. Before long she was sniffing me all over, nibbling my hair and blowing in my nose. Baby fluff is so soft, I could just pet them forever!!

She finally let me reach out and scritch on her neck and then commenced the mutual grooming (which is very cute until Maizie's teeth come in) and "baby talk"- the clacking of teeth that babies do when they're saying "You win! I'm submissive!"


(Scroll to about 30 seconds, you can see this horse "baby talking.")

She frolicked around her stall for awhile, always coming back to say hello, and at one point went to hide behind mom- when she peeked out around mom and saw me still sitting on the floor, she pinned her ears back and did a little baby charge... I laughed which scared her and she skittered off across the stall, bucking and kicking at the fact that I was less scared of her than she was me.

Being born is EXHAUSTING!

While I was in there I did a little training, too. Restraining baby and then letting her go while she was quiet, placing a hand on her rump or back and not allowing her to skitter away- all these things are so important. She has to learn to accept a little restraint or pressure and give into things that are not instinctual at this point. It's never too early to learn!