6/12

Moon had an exciting time of it. I drove him with one rein both sides using a side pull. It took him some getting used to. It puts the pressure up on his nose from the sides not from under his jaw. Then when I thought he was comfortable with that I put the other rein on. It always gets exciting at this point because the line gets in his legs and under his tail. But he did normal, lots of running in fear but he would settle down and come to me for support. We did both sides and then tried changing sides. It finally worked out. I picked a good spot to quit. Then took him for a walk outside sans the saddle. I did some sending exercise by tail gate of my truck because he was kinda concerned about it. I put him up after he settled down. I think I had the best session with him yet. And it came after such a disaster yesterday. Just goes to show you that they are very forgiving. Yesterday was definitely all me. I wanted to have a good connection with him today and not have any resistance from him. I brought him into the rd pen and put the pad on him. He moved some, but I just put it on anyway and he stopped. Then I grabbed the saddle and he moved a step, stopped and I put it on him. He started to take off but I got him back and finished cinching up. Then I took the halter off and let him go on his own for about ten minutes. Then I walked up to him sans halter and he started to follow me. Hmmm! I thought. I wonder how much he will follow me. So I started walking all over and he followed me and when I stopped he came up to me and I just rubbed him on the face and ears, all over his body. Then I would walk off again and he followed. Anytime he got ahead of me or started to move further from me I would change direction and get him back. So I spent the entire time just having him follow me all over and every time I stopped I would rub on him and practice placing his head low and bent toward me. I picked up and cleaned all four feet without him leaning on me. I walked around and he followed me. This was incredible to me, because he would not follow me before except for a step or two. So today was huge. I was tempted to ride him but I thought, "No, I am not going to ruin this." I wanted to let him know that just because the saddle is on doesn't mean he is going to get worked. So today he didn't even break a sweat. He just followed me all over. I felt like I had a real good connection with him. I then put the halter back on and flexed him with the softest feel ever from both sides. I even had him YH with the most softness ever. It was real good. So when I took the saddle off we walked outside and I just led him around. We came to the trailer and he was some concerned about it, so I did the sending exercise between me and the trailer until I was satisfied he was ok with it. Then I put him up for the day. I am still struck by how together we were today. I hope I can get that again tomorrow.