July 7th

It is early in the morning and I am going to load Freedom for his first time so that he can go to Lifesavers and play with obstacles. It is also his first time out of the round pen and he is not convinced that this is a safe plan. I really want to go, but Free is not ready to jump in so I decide that we will play with the trailer here instead. I spend the first part of the day with him getting him to ground drive around the yard by the trailer. When I get him to smell the trailer, I put him up for lunch. After lunch I start again and he is much more settled. I use a driving whip to tap him to get him to move forward and release each step. He is so cute! Free puts his foot in and looks at me like "Did I do good mom?". I take him away from the trailer and return again. Each time he gets closer and closer to going in. His reward is to walk away to relax each time. When he finally goes inside and turns around, it is no big deal. He looks at me a few times and then steps out like he has done this his whole life.