Lets Go Ropin'

As promised last Tuesday we loaded up Doc and off to the roping pen we went. This was his first time tied in a trailer with another horse, Scooter, his sparring partner and Dolly, a 3 year old mule belonging to a good friend Jeff M. (We've worked together for the past few years training mules the horse way and it works). There were no travel issues and upon arrival at the pen Doc was the only horse ore mule that would back completely off a 22' stock trailer. All others had to turn around inside to offload. This in itself impressed a lot of folks. His interest really peaked as we moved around, several other horses, cows, people and excitement. We traveled with all animals saddled so as soon as we unloaded I decided to mount and control his excitement from above. To my expectations (his good behavior doesn't surprise anymore) he was a total pleasure in the crowd. We moved into the arena, loped around a few laps and parked just along the header side of the chute to help direct the steers as they were released. The first couple of turn-outs did gain Doc's attention but soon became old hat as we just sat and talked with other ropers. After 30 mins and a couple of different riders, Helena's (a friend I've spoken of earlier) older daughter Cody took this opportunity to ride him around and was really impressed by his softness. Cody spends her time in the summer giving riding lessons to young children. Helena decided she would put him in the box and score a few steers to check his reaction. Well, again he acted as if he'd done this before so off she goes running a couple down the pen. Doc handled this with a lot of interest, head down, ears back and tracked with little direction after the first couple of steers. I always thought his build and agility would make a ropin' horse, now we've discovered his mind also fits the mold! Our time was cut short due to a thunder storm but the mission was accomplished! Another successful adventure.....