#4 He can back up!

Well, I took some encouragement from a DVD and with handy stick in hand set out to get the Gray to back up. We tried and tried..... first you are to move the stick rhythmically in front of his nose for 4 beats, then tap his lead rope lightly for 4 beats, whack the stick hard, then whack the metal clip on his halter. It took whacking the clip before he would move. At least he moved, that was a first. I persisted and tried to go lighter.... but it wasn't happening. I moved to another exercise of moving his hindquarters, which the Gray does pretty well. Then I tried another back up technique of wiggling the rope and then swinging the stick from left to right. Lo and behold, that one worked. I went back to the first method, and he went to backing up without so much force. Progress indeed. I tied him to a tree, and was going to go get Major, when I noticed that my sister, Elizabeth had called. I called her back and we did some Thanksgiving catching up. Since the days are short, I decided not to mess with Major... sent a text to Reba seeing if she was going to ride, then tried the flexing exercise with the Gray, and he was much better. I haven't heard from Reba, but I intend to ride here in a little bit either way.

(Later....) Well, Reba got home too late, so I rode off by myself. My arms are sore from swinging the stick and string. At least I am getting a workout! Gray did fine. We just rode down to the next county road. I had him stop several times because he doesn't like to. He always wants to keep moving. He relaxed more as time went on. I also bypassed our gate because he was so sure I was going to turn in. It went pretty well.