Pushed a few more of Dublin's buttons today. Decided to trailer load early, before it got hot, but thought we would try putting shipping boots on him just to see what he would do. We figured he had worn boots before so given how uneventful everything has been so far, we weren't expecting much of a reaction. Wrong! The front boots were not much of an issue, but the back boots were not a bit hit. Lots of striking out with his hind feet trying to get rid of the darned boots. We let him settle down until his head dropped and he was blinking again, gently removed the boots and moved on to trailer loading. This time he hopped right in the trailer. He still has a tough time getting the hind legs in--don't know if he was used to a ramp before, but he does a weird little hop to get the back lets loaded. But he's calm about it and stands pretty happily in the trailer. He still wouldn't back out all the way without me going in with him and backing him out, but he made a very graceful exit stepping down out of the trailer going backwards (the horse was going backwards, not the trailer!). So he is already ahead of Cowboy, who makes a very dramatic hopping exit backing out of the trailer every time.

So trailer loading was again successful. Then I addressed the issue with the shipping boots. He got booted up again and taken to the arena, stepping like a Tennessee Walker the entire time. Quite dramatic and showy from the laid-back guy. But after he walked and trotted around wearing the boots a few times, he relaxed and decided they weren't going to hurt him.

I planned to work him on the wooden pedestal, thinking if he could get his hind legs on it, he might also be more comfortable stepping them up in the trailer. But he tends to slide his front feet off the pedestal rather than stepping off, leading him open to injuring his feet. So Laura offered up her new overreach boots to protect his feet. We put them on and back to square one--the horse does NOT like his feet confined in any way! So more groundwork with the boots on until he relaxed. The pedestal exercise was not entirely successful. He now steps up with his front feet like a champ but rarely makes contact with the hind feet, preferring to step completely over the pedestal. Not an option for the Quarter Horses, but the long-legged boy makes the step easily.

Then the longest ride I've had on him. Still just doing easy moves in the arena, working on power steering and brakes but given how little time I've spent with him, he is coming along nicely. He's getting faster about picking up a trot and I can trot him in patterns rather than just straight lines. Laura brought Lady in the arena and he got to be ridden with a little company. All went well.