Post # 202

The last few days have been pretty nice. It cooled down again from highs in the 110s, so that is a relief. Andolu is so weird. In the middle of the day he'll stand out in the sun like it is nighttime. He loves getting hosed off, but to keep him in the shade I have to feed him there. Oh well. I think I mentioned I have been working on training him to back up from a hand signal. He has always been really reluctant/grumpy/stiff when backing. Since I'm pretty sure he has stiffness somewhere in his back end, I never got on his case too much. But now, every time I feed him I ask him to back at least one step before he gets his food. Soon I am going to ask for two steps each time, and work up. Anyway, he is picking it up fast. One thing I do notice is that at first I had to stop using my voice to say "back" and just use body language. He picked up what I meant quicker that way. Eventually I hope he'll be able to respond to just the voice command, too. Now, when he's especially anxious for his food, he doesn't just dance around forward, he'll back up too as I'm coming over. His backup looks a lot smoother now with all the practice.

I was comparing pictures of Mira's coat last summer with this summer's, and I can really tell a difference in the quality. Last summer we had a great spring with tons of grass, and this year... not. It was depressingly obvious. I really hope this winter we get lots of rain! I hope I have time tonight to catch up on Olympic coverage. I've hardly seen any of the horse footage...


L