The Meeting

 After thoroughly grooming my horse, right where JJ could watch, I put her back in her stall and brought JJ into the barn aisle.  We worked with the brush and the fly spray.  JJ also took a treat from our son and allowed him to pet him.  This was a big step for him.  He's learning that there is more than one person in the world ready to be kind to him.  Then we walked past the other stalls and around the corner of the barn to Marty's pen.  There was no dramatic expression of emotions, but they seemed to recognize each other as travelling companions.  Then, JJ took and I took a walk around the farm.  He was not interested in grass, but preferred to browse on small tree branches, (I had to keep him away from my fig and mulberry trees).  He especially liked the wax myrtle.  He was extremely efficient at biting and chewing up the small branches.  It was easy to picture him back in Nevada chewing on the white sage and needlegrass.  

I'm still working on finding a properly fitting halter for him.  His halter training was done with a rope halter, but I'd like to find a more comfortable flat buckle halter for him.  I have seen horses pull back and loosen a properly tied rope halter, plus, for long hikes, we'll want something that isn't as thin and harsh.  He might fit a yearling halter. I'll try that tomorrow.  Of course, with halter changes, he is a bit more apprehensive, but it just gives me a chance to reinforce his training.  I went back to the approach and retreat method a little to introduce the shiny, new halter to him.  He accepted it quickly.  At no time did I insist or try to trap him with the lead rope or halter.  I think that's important when training a wild burro.  

I'll back up a little and explain, in more detail, how we approached JJ's halter training and what we're using on Marty as well (our son spent much more time petting him this morning).  

We approach and retreat while looking for signs of tolerance from the burro.  The idea is to approach, which puts pressure on him, and then at the slightest discomfort, turn away and retreat from him, to take the pressure off.  We approach them at the shoulder, and give the hind end plenty of room.  If we push too hard, they will move their hind end towards us, which would be a fail moment.  After many, many tries, the burro will eventually allow us to touch his shoulder.  With our two boys, it seems that they will allow touching on the shoulders, back, hips, and neck, long before they allow the head to be touched.  Just as Rome wasn't built in a day; we don't rush them.  It seems better to do daily, or twice daily, short, sessions.  An old cowboy once told me to watch for them to make chewing motions towards the end of the session.  He said that means they are thinking about it.  That seems like a good place to hold steady where you are and end on a good note.  I think they appreciate getting the chance to think things over.  Processing it overnight seems to help, with the harder portions.  If we did the session right, they will be ready for a new element the next day.  This is how we try to train at the burro's pace, rather than our own timeline.  It certainly seems to lower the risk of being kicked, or actually scaring the poor burro.  Their world has been turned upside down.  They need time to adjust.  I'm certain there are other ways to train faster and more effectively, but this seems to be working for us.

Walking around the farm with JJ was a big step and one that I've really been looking forward to.  That's the crux of what we want to do with our long eared friends.  We have trails we can walk to from our farm and beautiful state parks in our state with equestrian trails.  That's what we do instead of expensive theme parks.  We like to be on the trails with our beloved pets, be they dogs, goats, horses, or burros.