Chin Mystery Solved, or Bruno's Dilemma

   A the end of this day, it appears it has been one of learning more about the beasties with whom I live. First of all, one may assume from the photo, I have discovered the secret of Baby's  escape route.  He has managed to chew a chinchilla-sized hole through some very dense plastic. My aunt and sister, Barb, were visiting, and they were curious as to how the rascal escapes. So I put him in his "playpen", with cornstarch bath dust and toys. He very happily rolled in the dust for a few minutes, and then ... PRESTO, he was gone. Barb thought she saw a hole, and sure enough there it was, and the chin wasn't. He had a great time blitzing around the living room, then headed into the bedroom. All three of us followed, and closed the door. I wish I'd had a video of the "chase". There we were, three quite adult and supposedly mature women, crawling around on the floor , trying to catch the escapee. Somehow, Baby leapt in front of me, and I caught him. But they are SO fast. There was one point, where he was screaming from kitchen into bedroom, and had to do a 90 degree turn. His front end was scrabbling in the right direction, but his hind end was still going in the original direction - hardwood floors are not the best for sharp turns. Any way, back to the cage he went, and the three of us had a good laugh at Baby and ourselves!
   For the BrunZ, it was a reality check today. For the past several weeks, he's been acting a bit spooky, and he is NOT a spooky horse. Apparently, he's been acting this way to get a rise out of me. I had a lesson with Rhonda, my trainer, today. She is a very good, upbeat person, and always gives the horse all the consideration he/she deserves. While I was longeing the lad, he spooked, and leapt toward me, and in so doing, got the line caught between his left and right legs. I had to let the line go, or he would have dragged me. So he went tearing out of the ring and across the field. I retrieved him, Rhonda closed the gate to the field, and the fun started.
   In his previous life as a pacer at the track, he was taught to GO like a bat out of hell, and win. The civilized niceties of a pleasure horse are not yet quite clear to him. Add that to the fact that he's a bit stubborn and very big, and you could have a problem. "Whoa" does not always mean whoa to Bruno. His reply is "Could we try this in a few minutes?", or "Have your people talk with my people." If you want a safe horse, it MUST halt when you ask for a halt. Sometimes the training, to me, seems a bit extreme. But I've had enough accidents to realize that the training demands are necessary. So on to another lesson tomorrow. Either he will be more compliant, or he'll be loaded for bear.

Just to get an idea of his size

   So that's been my day with the beasties.