Mustang Saga

Joseph's circles on the lunge line are getting a lot cleaner.  Not so much confusion and jerking into action.  We threw in a few things that required more paying attention and finesse, like doing figure 8's and stopping from a trot.  I think his biggest challenge is the mud in half of my round pen.  It's not deep but it's slick.  He's figured out how to pay attention to his footing there so he doesn't stumble, but he has to pay attention.

Oh, I also vaccinated him yesterday.  He didn't take kindly to being stabbed in the neck.  He jumped away but stayed with me and let me re-stick him since the needle had moved, and that was that.

I picked up his hind feet vvveerrry briefly.  He was scared.  I didn't press the issue.  There's no big hurry.

He's still super flinchy about being groomed, especially toward the hind end.  I groom him every day and he'll get over it with time.  Boy is he shedding! 

Then we worked on trailer loading.  He wouldn't lead in, so eventually I drove him in.  He flinched and tightened up and then he leapt in and turned around to face me.  Not how I want him to load, but I'll take it for now.  He got lots of praise and pets (which aren't really all that great a reward at this point) and a couple treats while he hung out in the trailer and looked around.  Then he unloaded very nicely, which was a relief after how long it took him to unload when we brought him home.

After that we stood and watched the dogs play practically under his nose, then we called it a day.