May 22-25

    Tuesday May 25 - Today we first went to tractor supply and mccoys to get some wood because we are going to expand Discos corral since there is no grass left and its a mud pit... We didn't get to the ranch until about 6:00 again but it still gave us plenty of time to do stuff. I walked over to his corral and he did his usual two whinnies when he saw me. I put his halter on and did C - Patterns, Backing, and Leading with him up to the front gate so we could wash all the mud off his cut. He stood there pretty good while we washed his hind leg and rubbed everything off of it. When we finished washing him my mom put some vetricyn on him but when we where done he picked up his leg, reached back and licked it all off... So maybe that didn't work out so great...Disco... Disco: O_o What?! We took him back to the arena and I did some Circle driving before we started doing our new exercises... Today we started doing intermediate!!! We did - Changing Sides, run up and rub, and desensitizing to the plastic bag... He did great on changing sides and pretty good on run up and rub but when we got out the plastic bag he completely freaked out! I first walked away from him flapping the bag while he followed me, showing him that I am not attacking him. Then faced him while I walked away flapping the bag. He was doing good so I walked up next to him and started flapping the bag on the ground, he wasn't so sure about it at first but ended up standing fine. So I started rubbing the air space around him, He didn't like that one bit so I stuck with it for awhile. When he accepted that I moved on and started rubbing him with the stick pretending that the bags where not there. He was a little twitchy but stood still until I got out of position and the wind blew the bag and made it touch his other side, as soon as that happened he just went crazy but I went back right after and did it again. He did good so I went to the other side, he was a little twitchy at first but after I did both sides he was fine. I was able to do pretty much everything with him, flap it all over his body, rub it all over his body, rub and flap his belly with it, rub and flap it on his legs, rub and flap his face, and pretty much what ever you can think of! When I was finished I got Texas and did some laying him down again, he did really good! On the first time I only had to say Bang twice! Disco is getting so good! 25 Days down and about 100 left to go! ;D

 

 Monday May 24 - Yesterday I did some work with Disco up to the front then gave him some water while my dad was refilling his. When I got him back to the arena I tied him up and went to get my other horse Texas so I could teach him the lay down. When he was I the arena I got the hobble and long line then clipped him up, it was gonna take more than just me so we all had to help with him. (he is alpha so laying down is the last thing he wants to do even though he is very submissive) It's a good thing that it wasn't just
me doing it cause he put up a good fight! He was
rearing, jumping up in the air and doing things I never knew they could do like rearing on one leg... When he finally bowed we released all the pressure and just let him think, for some reason he was walking backwards with his hind leg and dragging his front. :I It didn't take him long to figure it out so he flopped and I rubbed him all over. But just a little after he went down Disco got tangled up in his lead again... and got another rope burn in the same place as the last one... So Disco had the rest of the day off since you could tell he was hurting. We did laying down with Tex 2 more times then let him go and took Disco to his corral. His cue to lay down is "Bang" and on the second time he already looked at me when I said it and thought about going down but we had to apply some pressure still to remind him.


    Sunday May 23 - Sunday my dad picked me up from my friends house then went to the ranch right after. We didn't get to the ranch till about 6:30 so we didn't have much time to get everything done. Me and Disco did some C - Patterns around the ranch then went over to the arena and did some review of a lot of stuff. I also did some leading at the trot with him for my first time!


    Saturday May 22 - Melia is spending the night at her friend Gia's house, so I get to go "take care" of Disco :) My first time to have him to myself, so I decided to review all of the Fundamentals groundwork exercises and see where she and Disco stood. What a respectful and intelligent little fella Disco is! We breezed through lessons the entire evening like he had done it all his life! I'm not sure if all mustangs are like this, but if they are people are really missing out! Three weeks into training, and we are already going to start Intermediate.  Melia is doing such a great job, partly because of having the Clinton Anderson training kits, but its awesome to see her character appearing on this daily challenge, so patient yet determined, never losing her temper or showing emotions. I'm really impressed and proud!!  -Dad