Hooves on Concrete

There hasn't been much to report these days.  Nox is still on stall rest and still unhappy about it.  The weather has been brutally cold and snowy, so I'm thankful again that this is happening during the winter.  Since I can't work Nox's body, I'm focusing on his brain.  Nox currently lives in an attached part of the barn closest to the indoor ring.  The floor in that part of the barn is dirt and straw.  When Nox first came to NY, I tried to walk him into the main barn, which has a concrete floor.  Nox was either surprised by the sound of the concrete under his hooves, or intimidated by the narrow aisle, and he threw his head up and smacked it on the low beam in the ceiling.  I've never been able to walk him onto the concrete since.

This isn't usually a problem, since the stall he lives in is nice and big with a high ceiling, so it stays cool in the summer.  I can walk him right out of the stall and into the indoor ring or outside to the pastures.  Every once in while, however, it would be nice to walk him into the main barn.  The farrier could work easier and be closer to his tools, and the vet prefers to do some procedures on the concrete rather than in the dust and dirt.  Plus, it's pretty silly that Nox is afraid of the concrete.  So, I've made it our mission to learn to walk on it.

Here is a photo of the situation:

Nox is in his stall (right side of photo).  The aisle into the main barn is on the left.
Behind me, is the indoor ring.

This is the aisle I want Nox to walk into.

I started out by walking Nox casually toward the main barn aisle.  As soon as I walked through the entryway into the aisle, Nox would plant his feet and refuse to step any closer. Here's a photo: 

Nox says, "Nope".

We'd stand like this for 20 minutes, every day.  I had a handful of cookies and carrots to tempt him in, but Nox didn't care.  He was not stepping on the concrete.  If I tried to pull on the lead rope, he'd throw his head up and nearly hit it on the ceiling again, so I had to figure out a way to make him WANT to step on the concrete. 

So I started giving his cookies and carrots to the horses that live in the stalls along the aisle.  That got his attention!  I appealed to his competitive side - I was giving his cookies away!  To other horses!  He stomped his feet in the dirt and snorted in frustration.  A cookie to Tessa, the sweet little pony next to me.  Snort!  A cookie to Deuce.  Stomp!  After two days, I gave enough of his cookies away that he did this:     

Two feet on the concrete!  He's glaring at Deuce for eating his cookies.

I was so proud of him!  I gave him lots of cookies, carrots, and praise and we stood like this for a while.  Every day for the next week or so, Nox would put two hooves in the barn aisle and happily munch on the cookies and revel in my praise.  I backed up a little each day to get him to step forward, and he stretched as far as possible without moving his front feet any further.  One time, he was stretching so far forward that he actually put his two back feet onto the very edge of the concrete, but since he wouldn't move the front feet forward, he was standing on the equivalent space of a beach ball and he couldn't hold that stance for long.  I quickly backed him up into the dirt before he fell over.

So I gave his cookie away again.  Once was all it took.  This week, we achieved this:    

Four feet squarely on the concrete!!

Success!  Nox will officially walk confidently into the aisle with all four feet.  I'm too cautious to walk him all the way into the main barn because I don't want him to panic, slip, and re-injure himself when we are so close to recovery.  I'll save that for when he has healed completely.  For now, getting Nox over his fear of the concrete aisle is enough!  Now I want a cookie.