The Horse

I bought Aries knowing that he had some issues. Not a problem, I like a challenge. One of the first problems we had to deal with is catching him. When I go out to catch a horse I make my intentions very obvious. I approach the horse with the halter and lead rope in my hand in plain sight. I NEVER use a bucket of grain to catch a horse. However, this can be especially difficult if the horse is in a large field. So, we have Aries in one of our large fields and all is calm, for the moment.

Something always happens 10 minutes before we have to leave

My wife and I were getting ready to go somewhere with the kids. My son and I were ready in about 15 minutes. Yes, this included a shower. My wife and daughter took a bit longer. Rachael, my wife, looks out the window and notices that Aries has somehow escaped. Aries is in an area adjacent to the field he was in were Rachael has a pretty nice garden. She informs me of the problem via our intercom system which consists of her vocal chords and a lot of wind, Aries is in my garden! I was all dressed up and knew I would be in big trouble if I got dirty. Rachael was still getting ready for our evening engagement. We decided that the horse would be OK there until we returned home. The garden might be a bit smaller but what could we do. We new it could be very difficult to catch Aries and were not ready to start a training session 10 minutes before we had to leave.

The Boy

I heard the door chime as someone opened the door. I didnt think anything of it and continued to put stuff in the car and most important, find the keys to the car. About 8 minutes had pasted from when I heard to door chime. My son, Che, who was 8 years old at the time comes walking into the house and say, OK, were do you want the horse? What? I said. I caught em. Were ya want me to put em? Che said. I went outside and sure enough, Che had caught Aries. We only had the horse for a couple days and had not started working with him. He was impossible to catch even with a bucket of grain. But somehow Che had managed to approach the horse with lead rope and halter in hand and convinced the horse to lower his head down far enough so Che could put the halter on Aries. Still not too sure to this day why or how Che was able to catch Aries but he did it. Maybe it was his approach, calm, quiet and non-threatening. That is what I think. Perhaps I should keep an eye on this little horse whisperer, maybe I could learn a thing or two.