Day 8 and Day 9

Day 8 and Day 9

Things are going well with Trifecta.  I have been taking him on plenty of walkabouts on the property, we have practiced stopping, cleaning feet, turning, crossties and traffic.  He has had pasture time and play time with Uncle Dante and Uncle Starry.  Starry seems to be irritated by him.  Dante just loves him and won't leave him alone.

Ellen and Kevin have been spending time handling him, too.  That is good because I want him to be a family horse.  He truly loves people.

I have continued to go out to the barn early to work with him while the jealous one, Cole, is finishing up his hay.  On Day 8, we were at the end of the driveway waiting for traffic.  There wasn't any at all.  The day before, I did walk him out on the street to the next driveway.  He didn't care for the look of the mailbox.  He didn't spook at it, but he did look at it crooked and didn't want to get close to it.  Once I got him to the other driveway, we turned around and went right back.  He looked at the mailbox crooked from that side, too.  We call it "doing a Bella."  She always seems to be looking crooked at things.

I decided to try it again.  This time, he marched right out and barely noticed the mailbox.  I brought him back to our driveway and stood there.  He seemed quiet, so I decided to up the ante.  This time, we crossed the street and walked to the next driveway on that side--passing a different mailbox, crossed back to our side and went home.  The whole process went perfectly. So I decided to do it again, but go to the following driveway.

We were nearly to that driveway when a car came from behind and passed us.  Trifecta didn't seem to care--and that is when I made a decision.  We were halfway to the trail--I would go the whole way.  

We were nearly there when a car approached from the front of us.  I wasn't sure, at first, but as it got closer, I knew--it was Ellen!  She was very surprised to see us out there.  I told her I was going down the trail to the top of the hill.  It is about 100 feet.  She headed to the barn.

The little guy was so excited!  He walked really fast--looking all about him--but he was good.  He did look crooked at the mounting block, but when I allowed him to approach it, he immediately decided it was harmless and kept going.  I stopped him at the top of the hill, but I could tell that he wanted to continue down the trail.  I was tempted, but I decided to stick with my plan.  I would save that for Day 9.

Ellen met us on our way back,  He was such a good boy.

I was out early on Day 9, once again.  I got Trifecta, and we marched down the driveway.  He definitely seemed to walk with more confidence.  After checking to see that there was no traffic, we went right out on the street.  One car passed us on our way to the trail.

Once we got to the trail, he marched right past the mounting block--not even looking that way.  From there, we just flew down the hill.  I couldn't believe how fast he was going.  He wasn't afraid at all--he was just excited.  He looked all around.  I asked him to stop once, and he didn't do very well.  He was just too excited to be paying any attention to me.

When we got to the bottom of the hill, I took him down to the river.  Since we had recently had a very heavy rain, he had to step over a funny looking pile of debris and walk down some very slippery mud.  I made him slow down for my sake--I didn't want to fall in the mud.

The river itself was a little high and a very muddy color from the rain.  He thought it looked funny, but I told him to go and take a look at it.  He walked over and sniffed it, then he turned away.  He wanted nothing to do with the river at all.  I circled him around to take another look at it.  He dipped his nose in it to confirm that he really didn't want anything to do with it and stepped away.  I told him to look at it one more time and then we will go home.  We circled over to it, he put his head down to sniff it--and then he started drinking!  

We then turned around to go back home.  I was so grateful that he walked at a normal speed up the hill.  I think he exhausted himself, mentally and physically, on the way down.  He was a perfect gentleman.  Ellen met us on the way back, and we went back home with her.  

Everything went just perfect!