We have now had Levi for a week. Sidney has been trying to get out there and spend a little bit of time with him each day. She was able to get the lead rope on him and get his BLM tag off on day one. This is a pretty big accomplishment. I was not out there, but apparently when you put the lead rope on for the first time, it is quite a thing. The mustang is not used to the pressure and rears up. The trainer must hang on for that initial ride. Otherwise, you have inadvertently taught the horse that rearing up will take the pressure off. Levi is full of mud clots. Sidney has been able to start brushing him, slowly but surely, so some of the mud clots are going away. She did try to use the clippers to get some of them off, but he was not a fan of that.
Each day can be a bit like staring over, as he forgets what they worked on the day before. However, he is starting to remember that not everything is scary. When Sid walks into his stall now, he will come right to her. Anyone else? Not so much. I walked up to the panel while he was eating and he gave me the side eye and took two steps in the other direction. I will not take it personally though:).
He is pretty skinny still. Sid tried to introduce him to grain. He had zero interest the first few days. In fact, just yesterday he seemed to have finally consumed the grain Sid left out for him.
Sidney brought Pigeon into the big arena that is adjacent to the round pen so that the two could meet. It was pretty cute.
Things have been going so well that Sidney decided to put a sursingle around him. This is the first introduction to having something around him. It was pretty loose, and he did not seem to be super bothered by it. Later on in the training process, Sid will tighten it up and even hang things, such as buoys from it to desensitize Levi.
She has been starting to tie him to the post, so he gets used to it. There are a lot of manners that need to be taught here, as he likes to paw quite a bit. Though this is very expected at this point.
It has been pretty fantastic for Sidney. She has grown so much in the short week we have had him. She has had to process all the information that she has learned and observed and decide how she wants to train him. As I watch the process, it is very analogous to first time parents. How will you teach? How will you discipline? How will you learn to block out the noise, and the opinions of others? I am very excited to continue to watch and be part of this journey.
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