Memphis, Day 5

In the morning, I started by putting Memphis in the crossties. The only way he's going to act like a broke horse is to be treated like one, and since his tying lessons so far had gone well, he adjusted to the crossties well also. I groomed him there, and he was still insecure about me being behind him and brushing his tail, or switching sides from back there. He got quieter every minute. He looks to me for reassurance now, and if he's uneasy about something, my hand on his neck instantly brings his head down, softens his eyes, and he licks his lips. I saddled him in the barn also, and went straight to the roundpen.

We worked in hand first for a bit, refining some of the same stuff we'd been doing then I turned him loose and he broke in two again, but for a much shorter time. He faces up when asked and switches directions with a lot more consistency. I put him back on the line and started teaching him to lunge in smaller circles around me at the walk and trot. I decided to work him from up high, and made the mistake of going straight to the fence for this. He wasn't ready for that much, and was a little too worried for that to be productive. Instead, I brought in a stool and worked from there, asking him to bring the saddle to me on each side, where I was able to lay over him and flap the stirrups around and sack him out more with the rope. Afterwards, we went for a trail "walk" and cruised through ditches, trees, etc. He was a star, and impressed me by not being too concerned when the horses in the lower pasture came running up. He grabbed his butt a little, but looked right to me, and calmed as soon as I touched him. He's going to make a good one.

That evening we started in the barn again, on the crossties. Continued the lessons from earlier in the day, and again, I worked on getting above him and teaching him to "pick me up." As anxious as I am to ride him, and as well as he's doing with the ground work, I just don't feel like he's ready. Since he still has a good deal of buck in him, and not the "I'm kinda fresh and this saddle is annoying" type, but the "I'm flat leavin and takin everything with me" kind, I took him inside to work on throwing a leg over. I was able to get on him there. I took him back outside and got on again, and he handled it all really well.

I'm pleased with his progress so far. :)