Sporting the color blue.....

Tripp wearing a Wintec saddle and a cushy pad...




Karen touches my leg...I don't like it! YET! :-)












Today was a great day! Not only did I get bunches done around the place, the weather was gorgeous and I got to play with Tripp. Life is good!

Before I talk about the 'clothes' that Tripp is wearing, I do want to mention that he pooped today. Too much information???? Well, here is the interesting part - there was a long thing that came out with the apples.....I was hoping it was a half digested stick, some grass that slid thru the system, or something like that. Nope! It was freaking plastic! A twisted piece of plastic about 10 inches to 12 inches long. Thankfully he passed it, but now that I know he is part billy goat and will eat anything, I will be more careful what I give him to play with.
One of the bags that was left on the panel has a perfect bite mark out of it - just like a shark who took a bite out of a surfboard. He is a nut!

Now, on to the new 'clothing' that Tripp is sporting. Before I started messing with him I pulled out two of my old pads and draped them over the fence. I was shoveling mud from his canopy and was also watching him nose around the pads. He played with them for a while, but never pulled them off and flipped them around. I have to admit I was hoping for a show. :-) It was still good.

When I was done cleaning out the mud, I did the normal brushing and moving him around, then introduced him to the blue english pad. That is the one he spent the most time with. He was tense, but didn't try to get away from me. I rubbed that thing all over him then threw it on his back and walked him around with it. It even fell off a couple of times and I just dusted it off and put it back on. I had no intentions of bringing a saddle out yet, but thought to myself "Why not?" If he gets too stressed I will find a good way to end the saddle thing and go back to what we were doing. I grabbed my old Wintec saddle that I have had for several years - it is very light weight and there was nothing to flap around him. I just wanted to put it on his back and walk him. He snorted at it a few times, but I got it on there and he did GREAT! One little jump to try and get away but stopped when he hit the end of the lead rope. I moved it around and made some noise with it, and we walked around.

I then took that stuff off and got one of my navajo pads out and put it on him. Did the same thing - rubbed him all over and then put it on and we walked around. I did try to put one of the old western saddles on him, but he was having no part of that. I tried a few times and decided to just touch him with it, then end on a good note. It is sitting on the fence for him to nose around.

After that I decided that we were going to walk thru the gate and back in. Now, it never occurred to me that he might go out real good, but not come in real good! LOL! He checked the gate out, he poked his head out and looked around, then he followed me out. I circled him around and tried to get him back in, and he would get to the entrance of the gate and STOP! It took some patience, but he finally came back in. I told him what a good boy he was, then he turned around and walked right back out! ACK! My mistake! I was standing too close to the gate and had too much slack in the lead. Oh well, need to practice anyways. About that time my 27 year old Arab mare decided to come say hi to him - she is white so they are striking together! She gets all hoity toity and starts squealing at him, then turns around and kicks towards him. No contact was made - thank goodness - but she made her point! (I got her when she was 5). She decided that she had created enough drama and walked away.

He finally came back in and I was smarter this time - took him to the middle of the pen then told him how good he was.

I brushed him down again and gave him his dinner. He let me walk around him while he was eating and I even stopped to pet him down his back without me having to hold a lead rope.

OH! Best part of today? I GOT TO HUG TRIPP!!!!!! LOTS OF TIMES!!!!!!! It literally brings tears to my eyes. He is a neat guy!

I keep thinking it is a lot of the same stuff we are doing, and it is, but that is what is getting him better and more comfortable.

Tripp and I wish you all a happy day and a good night!