Mustang Saga

June 20, 2006

Here are some pictures of Amy (my sister) working Tonka yesterday. I worked him a little too but had the shakes from allergy meds so I didn't do much and then Liam hurt himself so I had to race to the rescue.

Amy has Clinton Anderson's stick, not sure what it's called, but it's his version of the Carrot Stick or a fancy lunge whip. She LOVES it. You can remove the lash and the end of the stiff part is rubber so you don't have to worry about poking them if you have to whack them, and whacking doesn't really hurt. it's hard to tell but she's rubbing his forehead with it in one picture, with the lash attached, and he's not worried about it. Happy to be standing still!

He ended up very light on the line. Really he started that way, but had occasional stubborn spots, dragged her around a bit. Not much fun with that ditch in the middle of the pen. But at the end he was very light, yielding nicely.

Today was yet another uneventful day. I worked with Emma to get pictures of her so we can do a better job of selling her. So I didn't really get time to work with Tonka. But tonight when I went to feed Soxy I hung out with Tonka for a while. He came in from the field to see me, which he almost always does. So sweet. (I do believe he thinks I'm the lunch wagon.) Then we just stood together. I didn't pet, since he doesn't really like it yet, and he didn't look unhappy or pressed, but his attention was on me constantly, in a positive, inquisitve way. He sniffed, with his adorable ears perky and forward, and sniffed some more. "How ya doing? Whatcha wearing? How come you're wearing a coat? Can I chew on it? Whoops, sorry! Can I hang out with you? Where ya going? Can I come too?" He was ultra sweet. So flattering that he wanted to be my buddy and follow me everywhere. Then I went to visit Coda, who has been kind of aloof lately for some reason. I found some good itchy spots on his chest and neck and he seemed quite happy to have me there. Tonka drifted up and Coda wanted to tell him firmly to leave, but I didn't let him, so Tonka got to carefully hang out with us too. Then Coda got tired of it and I said good night to Tonka and came in. Really very relaxing and nice. I'd like to do more of that, but still continue to move forward with training. Hard to find a happy medium. I think we're doing alright.