Four

Good Mornin'

Well, cool and breezy so far. Got up a little groggy. Another day under the truck; didn't get that pump quite right. One a those deals, where ya wanna fix one thing, but ya gotta move another, and the other get's jealous and figures it's gonna quit, like the first thing. Patience; sooner or later, they'll all get happy and agree, go back ta work for awhile.

Did get ta work with the mustang boys, though, speakin' a patience. I'd say, these two young colts got so shocked by their transition, from the forest, to the Forest Service, to the horse rescue, ta here, they kinda blew some mental fuses along the way. They've had some time ta settle in and we've been workin', simple stuff, gentle, feelin' our way toward an understandin' we can build on, but I'm still lookin' for "a clearing"; maybe a place or moment, where they could start ta see the fun a learnin'.

Old Julio, when he come in, any attempt ta interact and he'd just shut down; withdraw, like a turtle in a shell, resigned. Worse, part was, it took me a while, see, what was goin' on. I was so excited, be workin' with wild horses, try my stuff, I kinda rushed in. Once I got it, "whoa, Bucky, these guys are different!", backed up a little, started over, started lookin' for simple stuff we might could try, everybody relaxed.

Anyway, we've come a long way, but, Julio, he's still got one foot, he just don't wanta lend me, fer trimmin'. We got a few rituals, we come up with; some circles in the round pen, follow the leader, figure eights in front a the fence, loose rope round his shoulders, me sittin' on the top rail, brushin' and "foot liftin'". Well, it'd been a few days, since I'd got in with 'em; busy with the truck and all. So, we revisited our ritual exercises and got to the "foot part", me walkin' round, slidin' my hand across his back and down each leg, lettin' him know where I was; bendin' and scratchin' his fetlock, the furry knoll, just above his heel, waitin' for him ta shift his weight. Foot one, foot two, foot three and FOUR! Julio turned his head, give me a sleepy look, yawned and licked his lips. I give him a good ol' neck rub, went and got the brush and a nice flake a hay. Might be the heat, so hot, he forgot himself, but that's a change and I'll take it.

Have a great day!

Best,

jeune