TEAM SNAZZY GOAT

In the morning, Aston and Martin traveled from their birthplace at Stanton Brook Farm in NH, to their new home! Click through the pics to see David meeting his little adopted nephews for the first time!

Aston and Martin travel to a new state, in the pickup truck. We kept the windows open and gave them a tub of ice, to help them keep cool. The semi trucks on the highway made Aston nervous, but Martin was fascinated by the traffic, and watched out of the window, the whole way.

First impressions with the big man on campus! “Whoa! Babies!” David looks pleased!

David gets the babies to turn around and say hi.

David was so gentle and careful with the babies, while on the lead, we decided to take off his halter to see how he would behave. On the right, David gently sniffs Aston, while Martin watches.

David calmly eats hay, and gives the babies some space. He moves so slowly and carefully around them! We are going to wait a little before they live together full time, but in the meantime, David will be having frequent visits with his new nephews.

Today, Aston and Martin tried wearing halters for the first time. The halters are still a little bit big for them, but perfect for getting them used to the idea.

Aston and Martin had a big first full day in their new home, with a 2nd visit from David, learning about halters, new food to try, and getting their horns conditioned for the first time.

Today was Aston and Martin’s 2nd time in halters, and their first time with lead ropes. Before trying a walk outside, we did some work in the stall, reviewing stop and go cues (they’ve been hearing these in context for the past few days), and reviewing yielding to pressure. Both to go, and to stop.

Here are pictures from Aston and Martin’s first time out on a lead! The first two pictures with David are “before” and “after,” showing the baby boys’ progress from awkwardly lurching along, only responding to big cues, to walking confidently and with purpose on slack lead ropes! We are very impressed with so much progress! David enjoyed time out with his little nephews too, nuzzling them, reminding them to mind their manners, and hand grazing on our training breaks.

On the left: Setting out on our group walk, Aston and Martin were still finding their stride, following on a lead. They aren’t balking here. They simply haven’t figured out how to follow halter-given cues gracefully yet.

On the right: After about an hour of walking around on the roads and on the grass, Aston and Martin were walking on the lead, and following much more subtle halter cues. You can see how much confidence they’ve gained from practicing their new skill.

Aston and Martin discuss their new face-wear. Aston has a soft nasal voice, and his best friend, Martin, speaks loudly, and from the chest.

With goats, when trying new equipment for the first time, a slight fight response is nothing to worry about. The boys quickly realized there was no need to shake their halters and swipe at their lead ropes, and calmed down.

On the left: Asking Aston and Martin to step forward, away from the pressure that’s applied to their halters.

On the right: As soon as they move forward, they are rewarded with slack lead ropes.

Taking a break in the shade. Kids have much shorter attention spans than adult goats, so adding lots of little breaks to a training session keeps them engaged for longer.

Aston is a very forward-moving goat, but his friend, Martin, has been a bit balky in training. They are very much a “brains & brawn” duo, and Martin is used to being the boss of his friend. It’s important for him to learn that he can ask to stop and stand without throwing his whole body against the lead rope. It’s the equivalent of learning polite language. Happily, our assistant trainer, David, was very willing to step in and help explain things to Martin.

Here, Aston keeps up with David, but Martin keeps balking. This confuses Aston. Uncle David is minding his own business, chewing a stick.

We let Aston graze, and decided to do some work with Martin. David is the assistant trainer. He applies pressure from behind, to reinforce the cues to move forwards. David moves in to tell Martin to step up. David’s techniques here are similar to using a bum rope, to teach leading.

On the left: Martin challenges David to a battle of wills, so David applies more direct pressure, in the form of nips and light butting.

On the right: Martin makes his opinions known! He erupts forwards, striking out. This is a nice tantrum to work with, since his flailing can be channeled into doing the correct thing (moving forwards) and he’s quickly rewarded. We repeat these steps a few more times, until Martin understands that he can stop and go without telling us off.

For the rest of our walk, Martin keeps up with his friend, Aston, on a slack lead. When he wants to stop to look at something, he stops without pulling back. He looks happy and confidant, and is enjoying himself.

Aston and Martin have seen trains at a distance, but this weekend, they had their very first up-close encounter with a train! As luck would have it, it was a passenger train, full of friendly waving people. We even got waves from the driver!

We caught the train twice on our walk, coming and going. The first time, the baby boys were nervous, and wanted to scoot away from the train. The second time, they stood with minimal prancing, and watched it go by: blasting air horn, clanking steel, dinging, flashing crossing-gate, and all. Uncle David stood calmly both times. He is already very knowledgeable about trains.

We continue to go on regular walks, so that Aston and Martin can familiarize themselves with different sights and sounds, and learn from Uncle David’s vast experiences.

This week had some warm weather, so the boys got a spa day with their favorite UltraCruz Equine Bright White Shampoo (not sponsored, we just love they way this purple shampoo makes gray goats sparkle). This was Aston and Martin’s first bath ever! They watched David enjoying each step of the process first, before they tried it themselves.

They liked the shampoo, and getting gently spritzed with the hose, but they got a little chatty about the final rinse (but stood still for it nonetheless). They were very good boys!

A smiling Aston and Martin full of minty purple shampoo! We did not expect them to take to bathing so quickly, but they were very nonchalant about it!

The boys enjoying a stroll after their bath; all shiny and clean.

On Thursday, Aston and Martin had their big day with the vets, joining their mentor, David, in earning the title of Wether. The vet did a beautiful job, and they are already healing up nicely. David insisted on supervising all the proceedings from over the stall wall, to make sure his nephews were treated well.

Martin is a fighter, and only slept for about 15 minutes after his surgery, before he was up and wobbling around looking for snacks. Aston, on the other hand, was out cold for hours, occasionally running in his sleep, making faces, muttering, and snoring.

Once they both were up and about, they got to share a big bowl of hydrating beat pulp. David is being very gentle with them, while they heal up.