Getting to Work

Our first day of real training was full of surprises (even the training was a surprise--I was supposed to have a conference call, but unfortunately it was canceled). “Junior” (still no name!--from here on in I will sub some in to try them out) has really settled in nicely. When I walked up to his pen he had his eyes closed in the afternoon sunlight and he was listening calmly to Sean talk to another gentleman about the trip up to the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary. I caught the tail end; Sean was mentioning that a BLM mustang would be arriving at the farm this coming weekend and that we may see a big difference in temperament between him and Rumor (Rumi for short?).

First and foremost, Doc (Holiday of course) is super curious. He came right over to say hello when I arrived and seemed intent on getting to know all of our smells, especially the apple Sean was eating which he tasted surprisingly gracefully. He seemed surprised by the taste. Everything is new!

I had no idea where we would start, but Sean suggested we go into the arena; there was a lot going on outside (painting, dogs barking, etc.), so he went and got a halter and went in to get him. If this horse is fearful of people, he hides it well and Sean was able to walk right up and halter him and then lead him out and into the barn with the arena. Buddy made a few skittish steps: first when he encountered a hose (clearly a snake!) on the floor and then walking through the door (a dangerous cave!) into the indoor space, but nothing of note. Just like yesterday’s coyote run-in, he recovered from these moments remarkably quickly. We toured the whole of the arena and Dakotah followed along needing only a few reminders to give Sean his space. With that out of the way, we moved to the round pen.

Sean started off as he does (and has taught me to do) with all horses...he got him moving in a direction of Sean’s choosing. Sean noted that it wasn’t beautiful, but it was way more than I expected. Though he clearly had no idea what some of Sean’s cues meant, Amos was striving to please. He is not a super reactive horse and may need some encouragement to get moving, but he catches on quickly. Sean was able to get him to walk, trot and canter and even to let Sean picked up all four of his feet with mostly no real panic.

At each literal and figurative turn, I just smiled. I don’t think we could have picked a better horse for me. This little one (and Sean, too, of course) is going to teach me a great deal. I look forward to every minute.