The Bar T Mustang Project 2010: We're Mobile Now

Sunday afternoon here in NC was verrrrrry HOT! Late that evening Medicine Man and I had planned on another trail ride, but the weather was just not in support of the idea. We instead just saddled up ( for some reason he was a little shy today with the saddle so we spent some time working that out on both sides) and practiced a lot of lateral bending around trees, stumps, rocks or anything that could create a tight turn in improve his bending. This is not to say he's not being the perfect companion, but instead his turns, bends and flexing are coming with just the slightest bit of bit pressure and leg squeeze. Vertical flexing at the pole is slow but coming along. Seems he's gotten so responsive he just wants to back up. That surely isn't something to complain about now is it? After about 20 minutes of this, I’ve wanted to work on trailer loading, so we moved on to new challenges. Our practice trailer is a 14' stock tag along with about a 14" step-up. This is the same trailer we hauled him back from SC on day 1, so he has some familiarization with it. Well, you wouldn't think that when he saw it. A new beast, again! I wonder how there mama explains all the things they need to be afraid of because he has no short list. It took 5 minutes of walking around, left and right, back and forth for him to stop and relax within 1-2 feet of the back door. This time it was all under saddle with rider, so at least I didn't have to move as much. As we stood by the door, a storm came up. I took the opportunity to step inside to stay dry and lo' and behold, who in pops his head?! No encouragement just surprise! After a quick shower I backed him away and walked back up, back and forth to just when I thought he might lock down and repeat the step. On the third attempt to step up, he made the effort, not in but at least bumped his leg on the step-up. This didn't startle him but instead he tested the step-up for the height. One leg up and I backed him back up. Return, 2 up and rest. Back up and move forward and 1-2-3-4 feet all in the trailer. He made no attempt to back out on his own, ( I would have let him if he tried) so we just rested inside for a while before repeating the process 5-6 more times. I do want to say the first couple of attempts I used a long dead stick to tap him on the hip for forward movement, but was able to drop it after the 2nd trip in. Again guys! What a HORSE!
I'll be out of town until the weekend, so Chapin and Emily will continue to work on lessons learned and give "Doc" a little more time with other folks. This weekend, we plan to take him to a roping pen (not to rope) to expose him to more folks, horses, cows, noise and the like. We'll see how that goes!