UPDATE: Brutus is doing well and is still growing! He is getting towards 16 hands now, and promises to be a big boy! He is keeping his weight on, which is great, and has a nice thick winter coat. His feet were so bad when we got him that we are still waiting for them to completely grow out, but they are doing better. His conformation is still such that he should not do anything terribly stressful like endurance, jumping, etc. He will be a very nice pleasure/trail horse when he is all grown up.
We moved Brutus down into the larger paddock so he has more room to run around (Gypsy was in there previously, and she is NOT thrilled with her new stall assignment). It’s important that he has some room to run around and develop his muscles, especially when it rains and we cannot turn the horses out everyday. Brutus still has a bad habit of biting; it is not as bad when he is worked everyday, but when it rains he starts getting mouthy and nippy again. Being excessively mouthy is often normal for horses who have been weaned from their mothers too early. We have turned Brutus out with Tamahome to help teach him “horse sense” and that has helped him some. We hope that with continued discipline and work he will eventually stop the biting altogether.
Currently we are working Brutus on the line and in harness. He does an excellent job of pulling a tire around the arena to make the sand smooth!
