• Gender: Gelding
  
• Captured: July 2, 2008
  
• Color:  Bay/Black

• Weight as of 4/5/10: 418 kg
  
• Height as of 4/5/10:

• Students: Alexandra Poggi
  
• Sponsor: Joanna Barnish

   There has been a lot going on at the barn over the past month.  The horses were moved to the Red Barn on College Farm Road during spring break.  Unfortunately I could not be there but I heard that RU Casanova was very well behaved for trailering and when they arrived at the Red Barn.   I saw Cass the day after they were moved and I took him out of his stall to explore the barn.  He was very curious about everything and stayed extremely alert while I worked with him.  Although he was nervous he listened to my cues and never misbehaved.  He has been at the Red Barn for a few weeks now and is well acclimated.
    Ag Field Day sessions started last week and I think Cass loves the extra attention from his students.  His winter coat is shed out and all the grooming has made him very shiny.  Most recently we introduced the Equi-ciser to the horses.  The Equi-ciser consists of an enclosed circular sand track that is divided into six large compartments.  We can control the speed and direction of the movement, to make it an appropriate work out for the horses depending on their size and fitness.  The first day Cass went in with Glinda and Rose.  Glinda is a pro on the Equi-ciser, as she and the other three two-year-old draft crosses have already been on it.  I walked around once with Cass and then let him figure it out alone.  He and Rose followed Glinda’s lead and were keen to the concept of walking around at a set pace in no time. 
     I cannot believe how fast the semester is flying by.  The main thing that I hope to focus on now with Cass is working in the wash stall.  He will stand in the wash stall obediently, but he remains very tense.  I want to make sure to he understands that it is not that scary so he can relax.  Because soon it will be bath day, and the better he is about the wash stall, the easier it will be for us!  Cass is really great about all the commands in hand, so I feel that desensitization to “scary” tasks and objects is what he needs most work on. 

        Dr. Ralston has been continuing to conduct behavior tests on all of the horses, and just as before, the mustangs have been exceeding our expectations. 
        Within the last few weeks, Casanova has been exposed to clippers, towels acting as saddle pads, jolly balls, and a surcingle.  When Dr. Ralston first brought the clippers into Cass’ stall, he was a little hesitant to be near them, but he quickly calmed down and let her rub them all over his body and face.  Once she turned them on, Cass was a bit skeptical at first but calmed shortly thereafter.  By the end of the test (6 minutes), Dr. Ralston was able to rub the clippers all over his body with them on and buzzing.  The next week we conducted the jolly ball and towel behavior test.  Each horse had to walk up to the Jolly Ball and sniff it and they were graded based on their reaction to the ball moving and making noise.  Cass received an A for this part of the test; he actually lifted the jolly ball and wanted to play with it.  After the jolly ball test was completed, Dr. Ralston then took a towel and rubbed it all over each horse’s eyes, nose, ears, and body.  Cass seemed to really enjoy getting rubbed by the towel, and he tried to play with that too.  He seems to be going through a mouthy phase lately, and tries to play with everything!  Cass’ most recent accomplishment is that he is able to wear a lunging surcingle over his back with it tightened, and walk around with it.  We have not round-penned him yet with it on, but that will hopefully be the next step.   We have been taking a break from round-penning Cass the last few weeks because he seems to be slightly lame in the front. We believe the lameness is due to the fact that for some reason Cass has began to “toe in”, so our farrier is doing is best to try and correct this and straighten out Cass’ feet again.  Until Cass is moving off soundly in a circle, we are going to just work outside of the round pen in large straight areas to keep the stress and strain off of his front end.  Luckily, the “toeing in” on Cass’ feet is not a major problem, and can be corrected easily. 
        On November 19^th, the dentist and farrier were both out to work on the horses.  Unfortunately I was in class when they came, but from what I have heard; Cass did very well with both the farrier and the dentist.  He was a little unsure of what the dentist was or why he wanted to look at his mouth, but after a short while Cass calmed down and stood quietly as the dentist looked at all of Cass’ teeth.  The next time the dentist comes out (in spring) Cass will get his wolf teeth removed, as will all of the other yearlings who have them.  I was told that Cass was a good boy for the farrier, and stood like a gentleman.  It is very rewarding to hear when he is good for other people.   I look forward to continuing to watch Cass progress as the months go on.

    A lot has happened in the past month with Cass.   We began conducting behavior tests on all of the horses in the barn in order to compare the reactions of the weanling draft crosses to those of their older siblings, as well as comparing the mustangs’ responses to the weanling draft crosses that have the same amount of handling, and to the yearling draft crosses to see how horses of the same age and different back grounds reacted.  All of the horses were graded on a letter scale (A+ -- F) which was then converted to a numerical value.  The horses had to perform a set of specific tasks including halting for 1 minute, leading from the right, walking over a broom, and turns on the haunches and forehand.  Casanova received almost all A’s, and responded quite well to the test.  He did however receive one C, for leading from his right side; he practically had to be dragged.  Since then we have been working on leading from his right side in order to get him to move more willingly and freely.
    On October 8^th Casanova had his hooves trimmed by the farrier for the first time.  He was the only one to be trimmed in the aisle, and he stood calmly for Dr. Ralston as she held him.  The next day Dr. Ralston conducted a second behavior test where she led each of the horses down the long “scary” aisle, as the students have aptly named it, on the other side of the barn.  We recorded their responses to the large dark stalls, the feeders in the aisle, and the person videotaping their tests from inside one of the stalls.  Cass was very well behaved and received all A’s for each of the different stimuli and commands.  
    October 10^th was the “Coming Out Party” for the horses, and it turned out to be a major success.  The barn was filled with people talking and walking around and Cass was calmly eating in his stall the entire time; he actually never took his nose out of his bucket of hay cubes the whole night.  During the party, all of the horses were “paraded” down the aisle and back one at a time, and stopped to pose for a picture with their sponsor at the end.  When it was our turn, Cass calmly walked passed everyone in both directions without even thinking about it; he was very brave. 
    The most recent, and probably the biggest news this month is that Casanova is now officially a gelding.  On October 13^th both Cass and Marley (the other mustang colt) were castrated in an “open-open” form.  We were told to force exercise the boys twice per day for ten minutes each time to reduce swelling in the area.  To do so, Cass and I have been working in the round pen every day, and he has been doing a spectacular job.  Cass spiked a low grade fever towards the end of last week, and was more swollen than Dr. Ralston would have liked.  When she saw this she made the decision to have the veterinarian come back to the barn to check on him.  The veterinarian came out on October 20^th, and re-opened the area to allow better drainage and prescribed a course of antibiotics, which he enjoys because we put the powdered drug on a pound of the pellets to ensure that he eats them.  We will be keeping a close watch on him now. 

      Casanova is very social and has a wonderful personality.  His name says it all; from the day he was picked out at Cornell, he has always been the “lover boy.”  Cass allowed all of the students including myself to pet and scratch him all over from the very beginning.  He has been very brave up to this point, but every day brings a new obstacle or something that just might possibly decide to devour him whole!
     On the second day at the barn I was able to brush Casanova with a stiff body brush and curry comb, and shortly after we began teaching him how to lead calmly and properly.  Cass also learned how to be “round penned” with the help of Robin Rivello.  At first, he found it much more amusing to eat while being in the round pen, but after a conversation with Robin he began to cooperate and “dance” with her in the pen.  From there we moved on to learning how to lift up his feet to get them picked out without losing his balance.  Within a matter of two days, I was able to pick up all of his feet on my own without the support of another student at his head.  Cass now stands like a gentleman when asking for his feet.  Just last week we began teaching him how to tie and stand when tied.  He instantly gave into the pressure and stood quietly.  This past week we have been working on standing tied in the aisle while I pick out all four of his feet.  He is taking to it quite well, and shows improvement every day.  Lately, when I groom Casanova in the stall, I have started holding his hooves up longer in a position more like a farrier would to begin preparing him for his first hoof trimming.  Cass really is wonderful to work with, and I am so proud of how far he has come.