End of Week 8

So much has happened since I wrote last!! It is amazing all that Danny has learned in only 8 weeks. We are half way done with our training challenge.

On the 7 week anniversary of meeting Danny for the first time, I loaded him in the trailer with my sister's horse, Cookie, and headed to our county fairgrounds for the weekly team-penning. It was dark when we got there, the lights were on, the steers were milling around and the speakers were blaring. Danny stepped out of the trailer and took it all in stride. We groomed the horses and saddled up. I led Danny up the hill toward the steers' holding pen and let him watch them. He seemed interested but unworried. The shallow drainage ditch concerned him slightly more, but after walking back and forth across it a few times, he didn't give it a second glance.

While the team penning went on, Danny and I rode in the waiting area just outside the gate. There were other horses around, lots of noise, plenty of distractions to overcome. We worked on our trotting circles, stops and backing up. Then we focused on smooth sidepassing.

At one point a man walked up to Danny's nose. "Is he a mustang?"

"Yes he is. Got him 7 weeks ago." I could hardly wait to see his reaction. :)

He was petting Danny's nose and froze. Then he raised his eyes to mine. "Seriously?" He went back to his group of friends eager to tell the tale.

When all the classes were done, and the arena emptying, Danny and I went in and got to use up the whole fence line for practicing our fast canter. The video below is after at least five laps, so he was little tired, but I think he's doing pretty well.

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Two days later, I took Danny and my mare, Belle, to a training demo I was doing at Brookfield Farm in Factoryville. They trailered wonderfully and unloaded without any trouble.

Since I was earlier than the crowd, I saddled up Belle and bridled Danny. Ponying Danny from Belle was a great exercise for both of them, Danny learnings to stay close to us while I walk, trot or stop, and Belle improving her attentiveness to my cues especially well. I must say it was a blast having two wonderful horses trot figure 8's, jogging or fast trotting, even stopping together.

When the demo started, Danny stood like a statue with Melanie while I used Belle to demonstrate some lessons. I switched my saddle to Danny and used him to illustrate speed transitions, then later he showed his newest accomplishment; laying down.

The first time I asked Danny to lay down, it took about 10 minutes, maybe less. The second time he laid down, it took only a couple minutes. Now he drops right down. He even lays flat on his side if I ask.

A great friend of mine, Holly, surprised me by coming to the demo with her daughters. One of them, Stephania came beside me and petted Danny while he lay in the soft arena footing. I really think her gentle stroking put him to sleep. He made absolutely no move to get up for quite a while. In fact, I had to urge him to get up when it was time to head home.

Today's lesson with Danny included lots of loping circles, simple lead changes and pivoting on the hindquarters. I brought out my lariat and worked up to swinging it over my head and tossing it over a blue barrel. I asked him to step close to the barrel so I could tap it and tip it over with my foot. He remained calm.

After that, my next request was pretty easy. We rode up to the mail box outside our house. In a couple moments, he stood absolutely quietly in the perfect position for me to lean over and open the mail box. We walked away and went back to repeat the exercise a few times.

We still have so much to learn together. I feel it's crunch time now. Sort of like a dancing team who have gotten to know each other a little bit and now are learning to do more impressive moves! This is going to be fun!