Happy Four Months

Artemis is four months old today.  It seems like she's been here much longer than that.  Today was kind of the beginning of her weaning.  She won't be weaned for at least another month, probably longer but I have never been a fan of sudden seperation.  With Cas we did a slow process of getting her used to being away from her mother until they didn't care when she was weaned, and that is how I'd like to wean Artemis if I can.  So today we put Socks and Jimmy in the grass pens while I kept Artemis out on her lead.  She was not very impressed.  She jumped around a bit, striking one leg into the air but quickly calmed down.  She did much better than I thought she was going to.  We took her all over the farm, behind the stable and around her pen.  Socks didn't even call for her.  Artemis called a few times but she was pretty good.  We talked to our BO for about fifteen minutes and Artemis just stood there patiently. 

We took her down to meet Charlie, the other foal at the stable.  Charlie was dying to smell her and see her but Artemis was not impressed with him.  He's very high-energy and she, while she loves to run around and play, she's generally pretty calm.  She kept trying to bite him.  We'll be taking her down to see him more often since they should, hopefully, one day be living in the same field and I want her to see other foals.  Titan kept running up and down, making the softest noises I've ever heard a gelding make.  They sounded almost motherly. 

After we led her around we put her in the same grass pen as Jimmy.  I let her calm down and then I took Socks out of the pen and led her around and out of sight of Artemis.  Artemis was not pleased.  She ran around the little pen screaming her head off.  She calmed down when we brought her mother back.  When we were putting them away, I brought Socks back first and put her in the pen.  She called for Artemis and then ran straight for her food.  We led Jimmy and Artemis to Jimmy's pen and brought Artemis in while we set Jimmy free.  She was fine with being in there.  Then we finally brought her down to her pen and her mother.  She was great with it considering this was the first time we've seperated them for this long and it was the farthest they've been from each other. 

On a side note, both Artemis and Socks stepped on my foot tonight.  The same foot.  Artemis was prancing around when we first brought her to Charlie and stepped on my foot.  At one point when I was leading Socks, she became distracted by Artemis and stepped on the back of my foot.  Artemis has gotten much heavier since the last time she stepped on me. 

I'm going camping for the weekend.  It'll be my first camping trip without Socks.  I'll be taking Thor instead and it's going to be his first camping trip.  Here's to hoping everything will go fine!