WhooHoo TWO!

Tonight, I fed Danny in the round pen and........drum roll PLEASE!......in the trailer!!! He went in pretty as you please. After seeing that he could take his time and no one else was trying to steal his food, he decided to explore a bit and walked over the bowl that I'd placed about five feet in, and looked around the front of the trailer. Then he got a bit nervous because he couldn't figure out how he was going to turn around. Still, he didn't panic and he finally just turned around and walked back to his food. It actually was more difficult to make him leave once he'd finished eating and had, literally, licked the bowl clean than it had been to get him in there. He didn't even flinch when I tapped the side of the trailer to make noise or his two big brothers came up and peered at him from outside. I was very proud of him and I'll start leading him in on halter tomorrow. We might just step in and step back out so that I can teach him to back up because the time may come when he isn't in a trailer that allows him to turn around. As soon as we get him really comfortable with loading, we'll start going on short rides (with Mama Sande riding in the back compartment to keep him company and make certain he's Ok.) I'm beginning to wonder if Danny's reluctance and initial fear of the trailer was actually a reflection of my own. In one way, I'm very happy to have him spending the winter with Huston who I know will give him the best of care and the best of training and experience. On the other hand, it is literally wrenching my heart out to even think about leaving him in Missouri at the end of this month. Huston has already given me strict orders that I can not visit for at least a month. This may kill me.