Loose

Probably the one thing I have been most afraid of with taking him outside his pen....getting loose.

The backyard is not fenced.

Hadn't really had time to work with him for awhile between having a cold and working until 8ish. So I got off at the civilized hour of 5pm today so decided I would make him work for his supper. So far anyway, he has never gotten cranky about being pulled away from food or having to wait until we are done playing for his dinner.

We did a refresher of moving hips and shoulders and lunging, it was like he hadn't just had the last week off. The thickness I noticed in his back leg yesterday is still there in both back legs a bit, slightly more in his left hind. It almost feels like he's stocked up or something. He doesn't seem sore or off, but it didn't really go away much after working (not that we worked that hard). So anyway, things were going well so I figured, let's go for a walk.

His walk was slower outside his pen than it has been in the past, but that was okay. We got about halfway around the backyard when I thought I'd see how he behaved lunging outside his pen. We hadn't done this for awhile because he tended to get a bit exuberant and I was afraid he'd get away from me....

Started off pretty good but at some point I'm not sure how I managed to let things get tangled, but he got a little bouncy, the rope got between his hind legs and he ended up facing away from me. I had no idea what he'd do if I tried pulling on the rope at that point because it wasn't like he could follow his nose very well and get turned back around. So I think this was my loony-tunes moment as I watched the rope slip out of my hand and saw him going away from me.

Luckily, when he got to where the yard light stopped and it was black beyond, he turned back toward me somewhat. I got to see a rather pretty trot as it looked like he was going to dart back into his pen. He was almost there when he put on the breaks. He took a few steps and I said whoa and he turned around. He was blowing a bit from the excitement but I was able to slowly walk closer and get the end of the rope.

Then I tried to act like it hadn't happened, we went about halfway around the yard again, lunged him in a few more circles, and then went back into his pen and played a little more. At one point I had the rope between his legs so it was bumping his hind leg just above his hock, he did a couple trotting laps before he realized it was nothing and stopped.

I am so very glad he didn't just take off into the dark.

I so want to build a fence. (I ordered the Horseguard fence to make a 100 foot-long extension to his pen).

Just a quickie

Had a cold the last couple of days and gotten home really late from work so Mom has been nice and feeding him for me. I went out to feed this morning and while he was munching I ran my hands down his legs just for the heck of it. He wiggled around a little but let me run my hand down all four legs. His back left leg felt like it had a bit of swelling above the fetlock. Maybe a tiny bit of heat to it but barely. He's not favoring it at all, had him go out of his stall and trot a circle around for me and it doesn't seem to bother him at all so I guess I'll just keep an eye on it. At least the cough is gone!

Horsey friends

Here he is looking off toward the neighbors.

Horsey friends are the best! I went over to a friend's house last night to get some info and some pictures to update her farm's website. It's been awhile so we had to talk about horses and training, and more horses and, well, you get the idea. What started out to be a quick visit turned into more like a three hour visit. And in exchange for working on the website she is going to haul Cody to her farm for a week next month! This is a very cool thing because she has a round pen, an outdoor arena, a covered arena, poles, cones, a bridge, all kinds of stuff to play with. And it will also be a week when the farrier is going to be there so Cody can get his feet trimmed for the first time!

Yesterday morning before work we went out to play in the nippy weather. Cody and I went for a walk all over the backyard and nearly out to the road. This time we went around the big fir tree and got somewhere between 15 and 20 feet from the road. We stood there while at least one car went by and he didn't mind a bit. Unfortunately didn't have time to hang out there longer as I needed to get inside and get ready for work. So we turned around to head back and I'm not sure what popped into his head, but he reared up and tried to spin away but the ground was slick with a layer of frost and he slipped and landed flat on his side. Silly boy, hopefully he learned to not try that again! He scrambled right up and shook himself off. He seemed fine so we headed back to his pen.

You can see the road behind him. We went around to the other side of this big fir tree, this was just where we'd stopped to take some pictures.

After my horsey friend visit last night I had some new direction in things to work on.

So tonight we stayed in his pen and worked on moving his shoulders away and I made sure to release the pressure as soon as one leg crossed over the other. Taking it slow so right now am just looking for one good step. He got a few very nice cross over steps in there. He'll be doing a turn on the haunches in no time.

Then we also worked on after disengaging the hindquarters backing up a few steps. I need to get myself more coordinated to get that to flow better. We had one really good disengage and then back 3 or 4 steps and some so-so ones which I think were due to me not being a hundred percent sure what I was doing.

I was able to pick all four feet again and hold them for a bit and I stretched both front legs forward and then back and he took it all in stride.

Spent some time just standing there and petting his face and his muzzle and sticking my fingers in his mouth and rubbing his gums and at one point he just relaxed and rested his head on my shoulder. He's such a good pony :)

Just for the heck of it, when it came time to put his blanket on, I tossed it up on his back and then just pulled the whole thing forward and over and off his head. He raised his head some and took a step or two back, but it was more of a "what in the world are you doing?" than being scared and trying to get away. Even when I was trying to put it on him with the front buckles done up and it got stuck on his nose, all he did was calmly back up until he bumped into the panels and then stopped while I got it unstuck.

One other thing, took the stick, with string attached, and swung it back and forth slapping the ground. Just something else to get used to. I started it a bit away from him, not sure what he'd think and since he was just standing there I got closer and closer with it until if I got any closer I'd risk hitting him with it and he never even flinched. Even when I was swinging it above his head and letting it land between his ears.

The tail end, lol.

A walk on the wild side--contributing to the one-sidedness of a minor

So I've been lazy the last couple of days and not posted. Friday night I went out and made him work for his supper. He gets all pinned back ears and sort of lunges at the fence (so I just stomp towards him) when I am carrying his food, but if I'm not actually carrying his food, he's fine. A few times, because of time constraints, I have taken him away from his food to work with him a bit and then let him go back to finish. He's been very good about that. He doesn't get cranky about it and still pays attention to me even though he'd probably rather be eating.

Last night, we went for a walk in the dusting of snow that had decided to fall from the sky. About halfway through our lap around the yard, I went to his right side and was going to go for another lap from that side. No go. Tried some circles to get him moving, but he was having none of it. I realized that I had let my habit of leading from the left side contribute to Cody's one-sidedness. How awful of me! So I went back to the "good" side and led him back in his pen and we went back to the beginning on the "bad" side and did circles and finally managed to get a few forward steps when leading on the right. So I know what we will be working on today!

Mustang hoof

Well, I started working my temp job yesterday. I am helping with the deployment of a new system called NextGen at the Skagit Valley Medical Center. This involves new computers, hardware upgrades, software installs, etc. But in the beginning, it requires an inventory be done of computers and printers. You would have to know my history with inventory, but I find it rather funny in an ironic sort of way.

So working with Cody I am trying to accomplish in the mornings because by the time I get home after working both jobs I am dead tired. This morning I went out to feed him and worth with him a bit before getting ready for work at job #1 (Skagit Valley College IT). He got to eat some of his alfalfa pellets before we got to work and he didn't seem upset to be pulled away, so that was nice. I love that I can just take his blanket on and off like it's no big deal. Haven't really introduced words like "walk" or "trot", just been using clucks, but he's lunging nicely and stopping well. It is taking less and less for him to back up and then come forward to me. Since I was thinking of teaching him to wear hobbles, figured I'd start with the rope around his pastern and see what he thought. Didn't really mind and I was able to pick his feet up with the rope. It hasn't been an issue to run my hands down his legs, he's almost better with the back ones than he is with the front, but picking his feet up has been very brief, pick it up and let it go. But this morning, I was able to pick all four feet up (one at a time of course) and hold them for a few moments while I pet him. I drug Mom out with me tonight to try and take a picture of his hoof to go with this post and I will get them off her camera in the morning and add one to this post.

Yesterday and Today

So, the pictures are from yesterday, forgot to bring the camera out today. Yesterday we had a bit of wild pony when I asked for a few lunging circles outside his pen. Luckily, he didn't get away from me. I think I scared my mom a little (she was the one taking pictures, but didn't get any of his rambunctiousness). I don't really blame him though, he's been stuck in a 24x24 square for the last month and a half, wouldn't you want to kick your heels up if you didn't feel confined anymore? But not wanting him to think that was acceptable, we backed, we did more circles, and he settled down. I am working on clearing out space to give him sort of an extension on his pen, so he'd have something like 26x100 to stretch his legs until I can get the field cleared.

This was after he backed up and was standing there paying attention. I think he hadn't quite finished that last backward step, hence the crooked looking leg.

Can you put your head down?

Bend to the left...

...and bend to the right.

So today, when Mom and I got home from seeing the movie "Defiance", and I looked out the kitchen window, he was just standing there in a bit of sunshine either taking a nap or just totally bored. Before I actually made it out, he had laid down. I figured he'd hop up as soon as I opened the back door-nope, still laying down. Okay, so he'll hop up when I get to the gate-nope, still laying down. When I slide through the panel, surely that will get him to stand up? I slowly walked closer, talking to him, and he laid there and let me pet him for a moment before standing up. How cool was that? Too bad I didn't get a picture!

We started off with the "usual"-take off the blanket, quick brush, a few circles each way, some backing and coming forward and then I figured, let's go outside again, the day is just too nice!

I opened the gate and out we went. He was walking right with me, head about at my shoulder, not trying to rush or crowd or stop or anything. We practiced "whoa", I would say it as I turned toward him slightly and he'd stop. After a couple of pets, with a cluck we were off again. We made a lap of the whole backyard, past the tree, past my uncle's old trailer (that needs to disappear) and back to the gate. A little hesitation at the gate, so I stepped back, pointed with my rope hand, gestured with my stick hand, and in he went, nice as can be. That went so well that we went out for another lap in the opposite direction. We almost made it as far as the road, but I didn't want to push it, so stopped maybe 40 feet back. Stood there while a couple cars went by and then headed back to his pen which he walked back in the gate like a champ. Oh, and the whole time he was wearing his bareback pad again (not that he cared). I wanted it to be a good and calm experience, so we didn't attempt any lunging so he wouldn't be as likely to feel rowdy and he did great, very attentive and well-behaved. Such a good boy!

Lunging

We didn't have much time this evening, but it was just enough to practice a few things. We continue to make small steps in picking up feet and leading. Probably the biggest step today though, was in lunging. I was able to point the direction I wanted him to go, gesture slightly (kind of just waving it behind his tail) with my stick and off he went at a nice trot. And then say whoa, point towards his hip and a touch on the rope and he swings his rump away and faces me and stops. And then point in the new direction and away we go. I think he figured it out :) Sometimes things just click :)

Two days in one

I feel guilty, I missed posting yesterday after working with Cody! So here is for today and yesterday.

For starters, gtyup at Life at the Rough String passed along this little lemonade award for bloggers who show Great Attitude/Gratitude. So, I am following the instructions.

1. Post the picture (isn't it cute?)
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show Great Attitude and/or Gratitude.
3. Link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link this post to the person from who you received your award.

Okay, now to pick 10 blogs to nominate.

1. Reddunappy of There Is a Horse in My Bubblebath
2. Stormyranch of gentling a mustang
3. Pip of Me, Myself and Horses
4. Tracey of Mustang Diaries
5. Macaroni Manatee of Phiber Photos
6. Andrea of Mustang Saga
7. Jessie of Two Appaloosas and a Mustang
8. Leah of The Dutton Family
9. PalyReiner at Spinnin & Slidin, Lopin & Dreamin, Mustang Style!
10. Linda at Beautiful Mustang

As for Cody, we've been working the last couple days on leading, lunging, and feet. Oh yeah, and yesterday I decided I wanted to see how he looked with a bridle on.

The leading is getting there. Circles are good, straight lines we're still working on, it really helps when I can take him out of his pen to give us more room to actually walk in a straight line. And yesterday, it was heading past dusk when we went out so harder to see, he was a bit upset that I wouldn't let him stop and eat grass, and he bounced to the end of the rope a few times bucking and kicking up his heels (thankfully he stopped when he hit the end of the rope!) so we didn't spend much time outside the pen partly because it was dark and partly because it was kind of slick. So today, things were going pretty well, he was good about lunging in both directions at a walk and a trot and even stopping and changing directions. There were a couple times that his butt popped up in defiance of me asking him to move forward so he just had to work harder... This time, when we went for a walk outside he didn't try to eat grass even once, the only difficulty we had was walking back into his pen...but flip the rope around his hiney and in he went.

This morning I drove up to watch Tracey and Steve Holt! and that was fun! They are doing great and SH! moves out really nice.

All in all a pretty good day!

Goofy Boy

He was such a good boy today! I could walk up to him out in his pen. I took his blanket off no problem. We practiced leading. We practiced picking up feet. We practiced a little lunging.

For the leading practice today, I worked on getting him to follow me around in circles on a loose lead. I'd walk behind him and he'd turn and I'd keep going and he'd follow a bit and then I'd turn some more and it was working! The circles would get bigger and go into straight lines, but he was paying attention to where I was going and I barely had to touch the lead rope.

Then I decided to dig out my old bareback pad and see what he thought. He sniffed it, I touched his shoulder with it and then I just tossed it up on his back no problem. He stood there with it on his neck, his rump, his head, not a problem. Now I really want to see how he looks with my saddle on, lol.

One step at a time

I actually managed to work with him in two shorter (about a half hour) sessions today, so I left his blanket off in between. Speaking of blankets, the front straps are much much better to undo, the only thing he doesn't like is the sound of the Velcro, yet when I do and undo Velcro when it's not at his chest, he doesn't care. Guess I'll have to try and Velcro and unvelcro this pair of gloves I have under his neck so he gets used to the sound there.

We practiced leading today and actually had some success at it! We got some straight lines going and he walked with me in and out of his stall a few times. Still not a 100%, but a definite step forward.

In our second session (in between I went and worked on digging ditches to try and convince the water to go away) we went for a walk outside again. Walking out through the gate was okay. Unfortunately it's gotten really mushy right outside the gate. We weren't having as much success walking alongside me when we were outside, he was getting a bit...opinionated. There, it works better if I hold the lead with my outside hand and am angled slightly towards him, and my inside hand has the stick that can tap his rump, he'll walk forward this way sometimes when leading him "normally" isn't working very well.

I let him nibble some grass and then had an awful time getting his head back up, lol. The only time I had to loop the rope around his rump was to go back in his pen. He was being a bit uncooperative about going through the gate but it's so mushy there now because of the rain I didn't want him making it any worse so I just looped the rope around and said let's go and he hopped inside.

Probably one of the best things about today though was that I was able to walk up to him in his pen and pet him without him moving away and going in his stall! I did it once when I picked his pen clean before working with him, and then with the halter in hand, I walked up and was able to halter him without him walking away--both times I worked with him.

It's kind of fuzzy, camera was too close, but here is a silly picture of his front teeth. His two middle teeth look kind of odd, but you can't really see them very well. I'll try and get a better picture tomorrow. One nice thing though, top and bottom teeth appear to match up, no over- or under-bites :)

Smile for the camera!

A venture out

Hooray it wasn't raining when I got home from work! And look, he doesn't look quite as skinny :)

I still find it funny that I can catch him no problem if he's in his shelter, but if he's out in his pen, I can't get close enough to touch him, and he just wants to go inside his shelter.

Blanket came off much better today, so that was nice. Just kept my hand on his chest under the blanket until he stopped moving, and then he stood still to let me unbuckle the blanket.

Plan today was to go for a walk outside his pen. So we just did a quick refresher of moving from pressure, tap on the hip does work better than just steady pressure, he was back to moving from barely a tap. To get him to move his shoulders though, a bit of a poke with my stick got him to move, but he wasn't thrilled with it, he kept turning his head towards the stick like he wanted it to stop doing that and then he'd step away with his shoulders, a wave or maybe a tap of the stick on his rump, and he was moving, yay. He may be starting to get the idea of lunging. He moves away from a sort of poke of my stick on his shoulder, but he doesn't care for it. Will have to see if I can get him to move from a tap on the shoulder.

Now if we could just get plain ole leading down.

No real problem having to walk through the moat outside the gate, once we made it through the gate. He just wanted to stop and play in the water with his muzzle. The best luck I had with leading was if I looped my rope around his rump and used some pressure there and he walked forward with energy. I also tried tapping him with the stick while facing forward, that just made him tense and jumpy. So leading is still a work in progress.

My brother stopped by to say hi and to take a look at the moat. We were just finishing up, so we walked over to say hi and Cody streeeetched his neck out to sniff my brother's hand, I wish I'd gotten a picture!

A slight issue with getting his blanket back close enough to him to put it on, but once I flipped the rope over his back a couple times, I just tossed the blanket up and he behaved about letting me do up the buckles :)

It's so hard to not do too much in one session! I often find I've spent an hour out there with him when all I meant to spend was maybe 20 min and then go back. I'll have to actually take a watch out with me next time, lol.

At the end, it was so nice. He was all buckled back into his blanket and I was just standing there petting his face. I rubbed all over, had my arms wrapped around his face, I rubbed his gums and his nostrils and he just stood there.

Cough is still there, but I think he was feeling better today, definitely more spunky! Now if the cough would just go away :(

A good brushing

Finally done house-sitting and so back to the routine of going out in the evening by the light of the yard light to work with Cody and then feed him dinner. Still working on being able to approach him outside of his stall. Once he's in his stall I can walk up and put a hand on him no problem. He was good about letting me put his halter on tonight, I just put my arm over his neck, had the halter in each hand under his neck and just slipped it up over his nose and ta-da, we were done. I just pet him for a bit and then we started working on being able to take his blanket off. He is still not liking me to do and undo the front buckles, so I just put my hand on his chest and left it there until he stopped moving around. Then this time he was pretty good about letting me finish unbuckling the blanket. Once the straps are all undone, I can just pull it off like it's no big deal.

Then the gloves came off (literally) and I just rubbed him all over with my hands, just spending time with him since it had been a few days. The cough is still there, but I think it's getting better. We practiced giving softly to pressure from the lead to turn his head and he does that pretty well. Then we worked on him putting his head down. I would put some pressure on the lead, and I had my hand up on his poll and he'd drop his head a little and I'd rub his poll. He nearly had his nose on the ground.

Then we worked on moving his shoulders away from a touch. I had one hand on his shoulder and one hand near the middle of his neck and it didn't take much pressure for him to move and cross one leg over the other. We also worked on backing up and then walking toward me and he didn't do too bad.

All in all a pretty good evening, it is so good to be home!

A question though, what do you find to be more effective, steady pressure that increases in intensity, or tapping that increases in intensity?

Cough

Not quite how I wanted to capture it, but the moon was coming up from behind a cloud and it just looked cool (cooler in person than this picture is conveying).

Thankfully, the rain has let up (for now) and the lake has receded to just soggy grass with a few puddles yet. Mom and I were working on digging trenches for some french drains today, but we'll have to wait until it dries out a bit more before we can really do much more.

Pea gravel for the french drains!


Drain pipe. So much easier than writing everything down, I just took pictures of it!

So his nose seems a little less snotty, but he still coughs some. But he's still alert, was watching Mom and I while we were digging and stuff. Chows down on his food and cleans it up. When is it time to call the vet? Would someone at the vet's office answer questions if I described his symptoms? I suppose, one thing they would ask is "what's his temp?". I had a thermometer in a horsey first aid kit but I'm not sure where it is. Might have to pick up a new one tomorrow and attempt to take his temp.

I am tempted to get him one of those Jolly Ball toys because I think he might actually play with it. He plays with the chains that hold the panels together, I'd set my halter and lead down on the salt block the other day while I cleaned his pen and I stood there and got the rope in his mouth and just stood there sorta playing with it. I feel bad for him, being all by himself.

I think he has a cold

And hopefully that is all that it is. A bit of a snotty nose and the occasional cough. I hesitate to try and take his temp as I'm not sure how he'll react. Well, that and I have no idea where my horse thermometer has wound up. It is just yucky enough out and he probably doesn't feel the greatest so I think a day off is in order. Here are some pictures of the lake that has surrounded his stall and pen on three sides.

Lake

Well, not the best of days. There is a lake to walk through to get to Cody's pen, luckily, at this point, not a lake in his pen. And it turns out the old shed where I am storing hay has a leak or two so I am going to have to figure something else out. I'm glad I hadn't gotten one of those Costco tarp garage thingies because where I likely would have put it is also a lake at the moment. Grandma's back yard does not drain well enough for snow to melt and it to rain and rain on top of that, the ground is pretty saturated.

Went out and worked with him even though it was miserable and raining. The only part of taking his blanket off and putting it back on that he doesn't like is me buckling and unbuckling the front straps. Going to have to work on that. The rain didn't help things any because I ended up putting a blanket back on a wet horse. I had a plan for today, we were going to work on moving his hip and moving his shoulder (separately). We were so-so successful. It was like he forgot what it meant to move his hip over from a tap. But we did get a few steps so hopefully it will be better next time. I guess it was just all around less pleasant and harder to concentrate for the both of us in that miserable rain. We did manage to get a couple steps of moving shoulders away in each direction.

At least with all this rain I can see where water tends to accumulate and try and figure out ways to redirect it. Now if only my brother will be willing to build a little addition onto Cody's stall to store hay in a dry place when he comes up this weekend or next.... (Key word there little, as it can only be about 4 feet wide by the 12 feet deep of his stall to fit within the 200 sq ft limit to not need a permit).

How many of you out there find yourself typing with a cat on your lap?

Cody/Cote/Coty/You get the idea

Here he is showing off his nice dirty blanket. It wasn't really that dark out, was only about 4:30 or so, but the dark sky and the glowing eyes are courtesy of the good ole flash.

I think, for a barn name, I am going to call him Cody. Not sure if that's how I'm going to spell it, but it's basically just taking the first and last three letters of Coyote => CoyOTE, lol. I just wasn't having any success calling him CB, just didn't quite roll off the tongue.

So, I didn't get to work with him all weekend, mom has been feeding him for me while I am house-sitting for someone. (I am all for making a few extra dollars!) So I went out after I got off work today. One minor issue with taking his blanket off, he really doesn't like the sound of the velcro coming undone! So he wasn't even wanting me to unbuckle the front buckles, so I finally just started fwapping the front of the blanket with my rope in a loop and then he let me finish unbuckling. And after it was off, he stood there and listened to me do and undo the velcro a whole bunch.

We worked on picking up his front feet. At first, he'd jerk his leg up and try to walk away, but we kept working on it and he got to where I'd sort of tickle the back of his knee (to encourage it to bend) and he'd pick his foot up softly and then put it down. So we'll keep working on that.

I walked around behind him a couple times after I stood leaning against his hip and had my arm wrapped around behind his tail and was petting him to see how he felt about that. The first time I stepped from left to right he wasn't too sure what to think and turned around, but then when I stepped from right to left he was fine, so we'll keep working on that too.

Oh! A good thing, was no problem to walk up to him, pet his neck, put the rope over and put the halter right on :)

I think I tried to muddle too much into today though, after working on leading and a little on backing, got the silly idea to try working on lunging. But I think I confused us both. Here I was trying to get him to step forward and he's looking at me like "what are you doing?" because I've been working to get him used to things touching, tapping, swinging at him etc, that none of it was really meaning anything, lol. But I've gotten some advice and I think I am going to work on getting leading to be more solid before we try lunging again.

Luckily, I just work mornings all week so I can go play after work :) (Not that the dark would really stop me, lol).

Sunshine!

If you notice in this picture, there are no bars in sight! The sun was peeking out from behind the clouds and he seemed to really be getting the hang of leading so after I brushed him I decided we should go for a walk.

He wasn't too sure about this whole stepping outside his nice safe pen so we took it nice and slow.

Here we've made it as far as his head out the gate. And yes I know he still looks thin, we're working on it!

Halfway out, we can do this!

We made it and the sun peeked out again!

We then went for a walk around the backyard. He was moving forward pretty well, but didn't try to pull away or anything. We'd stop and I'd snap a few more pics and then we'd move on again. I am house-sitting right now so this weekend Mom is going to be feeding him for me so probably won't have time to play again until Monday. But I think we ended the week on a pretty good note!

Posing for the camera!

Leading practice

Got the halter back on! Well, I wouldn't have left it off yet if I really thought I wouldn't be able to get it back on. But it's still nice to have that confirmed :)

Took his blanket off and then worked on tossing it on him from the right side. He wasn't too sure about that, but finally stood still and let me do that. That done, it hung on the fence while I brushed him. He was very good and stood still to be brushed. Stood still when I took the blanket off too, just moved around when I was trying to toss it on him from the right.

Getting his belly brushed.

He's starting to get the idea of leading. We went around and around his pen in medium-sized circles with not a lot of pressure (most of the time) to get him moving forward again. Then, when we were all done, we walked up to where his blanket was hanging on the fence, I pulled it off and put it on and he didn't take a step :) Hopefully, by next week we'll have the leading down well enough to go for a walk outside.

Doesn't he look good in his new halter?

And his head really isn't as long as it looks in these photos! I will have to try and get a better shot.