Another Sunday Visit

Sunday I just went out for a quick visit since I was starting my new
job the following week and wouldn't get in as many visits as usual.
Did the usual cleaning under the overhang where I like to think the
horses stand when it's windy or rainy or something. Then I went out
and curried all the horses and brushed manes and tails. Even Kalani
was willing to stand there for it. It was still pretty mellow and the
sun was out so everyone was eating and soaking up the heat.

Axel isn't quite the most graceful of creatures so I decided it was
time to work on backing up. I got out the Parelli carrot stick and
string and put Axel's halter on him. First we played the friendly
game with the stick and string, he pretty much just wanted to eat the
stick. He didn't care if I swished the string around him or over his
back or neck, or smack it on the ground next to him. Then we played
porcupine game trying to get him to move his hind quarters. He seemd
to figure that out after a while on both sides. The backing up didn't
work out quite as well as the hind quarters did. Right now he'll just
take one step at a time back. But we'll keep working on it.

I ran into Tom on Monday and he mentioned that when he had been
outside on Sunday he saw Cody and Kalani playing a couple games
together. One game that Kalani and Rusty used to always play is when
the two horses rear up on their hind legs at each other. That game
was dubbed "Stalliono," and now Cody is playing it with Kalani. The
other game they were playing was pass the Jollyball. Just like they
had been passing the stick a while ago, now they were passing their
Jollyball back and forth (a Jollybally is like a plastic ball with a
handle on it they make for horses so they can carry it around). I
knew it was just a matter of time before Cody made some new best
friends. You could tell he really wanted to play with the other
horses but was biding his time until they invited him.