Picking up the Pace

We did two sessions already this morning and I gave him a lot to think about.  He'll have a long rest before we do another this afternoon.    

I moved him around in both directions using a small piece of rope.  I rubbed it over his shoulders before we started and showed it to him again after to ensure he was not afraid of it.  We worked on the commands "walk" and "whoa".  He is still awkward moving to the right compared to the left.  Consequently, I spent more time with him going to the right.  He did shut down at one point, which I patiently worked through by asking the same thing in the same way until he responded, then moved onto something else quickly.  The shut down was probably due his basic donkey sense wondering why we were doing the same thing, yet again.  Burros and donkeys are like gifted students; they always want to know why.   

I also spent a lot of time petting him, showing him the halter, and touching him with it.  He did very well.  Over the weekend, I removed the nylon halter that was put on him in the chute during pick up, because this week was predicted to be quite rainy and it would likely rub him raw when it became wet and heavy.  It was a poor fit anyway, so I used a different halter to show him today.  He tolerated it very well, going so far as to let the noseband touch his nose.  I hope to be able to put the halter on and off by the end of the week. 

Donkeys and ponies can learn by example, according to research, and many of us that have been around them for awhile can attest to that (I think ponies tend to study bad habits a bit more..hehehe).  With that in mind, I have been tying the horses and pony where JJ can see them when I do grooming sessions.  Today, I walked both my Mustang and our Shetland Pony out to the grass next to JJ's paddock to see if he was curious about them, yet.  He still showed some fear, so we stayed back.  He was more comfortable with the pony, probably because she's smaller than him.  

I've increased both the length and number of training sessions because I need to get to where I can lead him and move into the paddock/stall combination in the barn relatively soon.  With all of the rain, he is danger of developing thrush and/or rain rot if I don't move him to the next level.  I also need to consider the fact that we're in prime hurricane season and he will need shelter if one approaches.  You can't rush donkey time, but by increasing the sessions, I hope to arrive at the same place a bit sooner.