Wildairo teaches himself a lesson, maybe.

After Sundays excitement I wanted to have a stress free Monday but that wasn't to be because Wildairo gave us a real scare.

I thought I'd put Wildairo's halter on and brush him and maybe try to lift his long feet to get him ready for the farrier which I have been putting off because of his absolute fear of strangers.

I put his halter on and was brushing him and something bothered him and he decided to leave rather quickly, forgetting he was attached to a lead rope. I get mad at horses with bad manners and he knows it! I let him get to the end of the rope and I jerked him back around telling him "No"! He came back all sheepish and stood really nice. If he tries to walk into me or swings his head about too much, I tell him "No" and he really responds well and behaves for me. But that's only for me.

I asked Brad to hold his head so I could brush his back part. He likes Brad to scratch his neck but doesn't respect him like he does me. I loosened up the lad's halter to fit it better, he decided to leave and when Brad told him' no' he was like 'your not the boss of me' and took off and the underneath part of the halter went into his mouth and then all hell broke loose.

I'm pretty good about safety and being careful with equipment so I've never had anything like this happen before. Bloody hell! We had one very scared mustang racing around the corral determined to run away from the pain and perceived danger he was in. I think he considered going over the rock wall but decided it wasn't wise so he careened around the corral bucking and stepping on the rope and causing himself more pain. We were helpless. Luckily our good friend Foxsun came to help (again) he stood calmly by the gate and it helped Wildairo realize it wasn't a stampede event. Every time Wildairo stepped on that rope he hurt his mouth more. He knew the rope was the cause of his pain and looked at it like it was a snake when he went to stand with Fox (the other side of the gate) for comfort.

After another quick outburst somehow the halter came back out of his mouth and he stood still for Brad to go and retrieve him and walk him over to me. I was looking for signs of lameness. I was sure his long hooves had caused some tendon damage with all the acrobatics he did. He's still sound but how in the hell did those feet not chip on the rocks? Wow, he's got hooves made of granite!

His gum was a bit sore on one side, nothing too bad at all, just a tiny bit of blood. I was sure when I looked in his mouth I'd find horrible damage. He was pretty shook up and wanted me to comfort him, which I did. Brad reminded me he was a young mustang after all and said maybe he learned a lesson from it.

Wildairo needs to respect people other than me. He needs to learn to be tethered. (We bought a blocker tie ring to train him and will attach it to a sturdy post). I know he's not learning anything about being a domesticated horse when he's just behaving with me because he happens to like me. If I was a vet and a farrier maybe then I could be just his only trusted friend, but he's going to have to learn respect for all humans. He's a good horse and he tries hard to adapt to this new life of his.

That was Monday. Yesterday I played it safe and just took the horses carrots. Foxsun was hanging around the corrals and enjoyed the treat. Echo is all kissy face again and Wildairo wanted to whole bag of carrots.

The cow and twins are doing well. The tiny calf seems to be able to get to the milk bar but I think her huge brother might be drinking most of the milk. I will bottle feed her if she starts to look hungry. Her mother lets me pick her up and cuddle her.

Wildairo's title certificate application form arrived Monday. If approved, he won't be owned by the US government anymore and will be an official member of our family.

I have to get someone to certify he's been taken care off. It says the person can be a vet, extension agent, local humane official or a BLM approved individual. Does anyone know who else can sign it? He's never seen a vet and I don't know any of the other people mentioned above.