The Mustang Diaries: Kai-Ju Day 32

We started Kai-Ju's training session by reviewing groundwork exercises that he was already familiar with. Despite the lingering snow and moderate wind this evening, he willingly performed everything I asked of him. We had a beautiful sunny end to the day, and Kai seemed to be using the thinking side of his brain as he whizzed through groundwork tasks. I had no intention of saddling him today but the conditions and his body language shouted that he was desperate for SOMETHING to challenge him, so I trudged down to the tack room and brought up a junky old saddle that I didn't mind being kicked, bucked off, or rolled on.

The saddling process with Kai took all of 5 minutes and he didn't offer a single buck, kick, or even attempt to spook. Proud trainer here.

I needed a win today, and that's exactly what this was. Kai-Joo (Kai) looked as defeated as I felt while he stared me down from the side of the roundpen after his FIRST saddling EVER. Some wild mustang, eh?

I lost some hope about a week ago when he landed a freight train of a kick to my right thigh that I thought would end our training indefinitely. I'm still shaking off the limp and the galaxy-colored hoof print reminder on my leg seems to be fading, so I guess that meant it was time to try to get the same beating for a second time.