And there it is....

I have a feeling this is how it's going to go for Dan. Start out awesome... then when he's done it once and knows the drill.. that's when the antics begin. ;) But he's still a pretty good kid. 

 

It poured the last two nights but I went ahead and did some work. We started out in the round pen and lunged both ways, just at the walk. He got the halt down, so I put on the long ines and off we went. He was NOT forward today. So I tried to encourage it with the whip.. .nothing. Encouraged again a little harder... nothing... encouraged again and.. maybe a bit too much this time as he kicked out at me! Twerp! He's got good aim! He managed to get the whip but nothing else. Fine...he went forward though :) So then we just kept going and headed out of the round pen. He was pretty darn good but a little hesitant to go forward. But we managed, even without the whip. He's getting the hang of steering too! We even managed to go down to the right front pasture even leaving the herd!!! Of course the herd followed us after a bit, but still. I was very proud of him for being brave and leading the way. :) But then, when we tried to leave and go back to the barn, leaving the herd in the pasture... he said nope! Then we had a baby meltdown. He walked through the gate, stopped, and said nope... backed right back into the gate and tried to turn and run. I held my ground and after about a 5 minute fight (I say fight, but I mean, nope.. you will yield to my long line pressure and eventually go where I want), he gave in and went forward happily. We then went over two logs and I was nice and called Fleck and Roany back up near us. Then we figure 8'ed around two trees and had a nice halt and were done.

So... while there is a bit of "NO" in there... it's nice that he pretty much has his tantrum and then says fine and goes back to good boy. :)