Maverick at the Trainers

I realize I don’t always give Maverick the credit he deserves. I think he has me buffalo’d. In any case, this past Saturday, my trainer called and said he was ready for Maverick whenever I was. We decided that this past Monday would be a perfect time.

The only hitch was that I wasn’t sure how well Maverick would load. The last time he loaded into a trailer was when the neighbor dropped him off six months ago. I’m not comfortable handling him to work with him so he sat all winter. I was pretty nervous about loading so I asked the trainer if he would be willing to come out and help load Maverick up.

So the trainer showed up at our place at 5:30pm. We stood around chatting for awhile, talking horses and whatnot. We walked back to where I had Maverick penned. We had to swing by and say hello to Chaos since Chaos remembered him and gave him a warm welcome.

I pulled Maverick out and he behaved! I’d pulled him out of the pen and wormed him before hand but when the trainer showed up, Maverick was on his best behavior! That darn bugger! We walked over to the trailer and he never once flipped out. He didn’t try to run me over; he didn’t try tossing his head around; he didn’t try to do anything bad. Mike opened the door to the trailer and there was no response from Maverick. He really must pick up on my nervousness.

We walked up to the trailer. Maverick stood there for just a little while. He sniffed and even put his two front feet in. Then Maverick backed out and we had to do a little maneuvering to get him positioned correctly. After that, Maverick hopped right in. That darn bugger.

Maverick and I walked to the front of the trailer, I shut the trailer partition, and unsnapped his lead rope. I don’t remember now if Maverick is good at being tied so I left him loose. That darn bugger. Here I was SO nervous about handling him and loading him and he made a fool out of me!

So we hopped into the truck and puttered on over to the trainers. I warned the trainer I drive super slow; we’re not talking turtle pace, we’re talking granny pace. The trainer said Maverick turned around a couple times but otherwise he was fine. (The trainer followed us to his place, poor guy.)

When we got to the facility, I told the trainer I really wasn’t comfortable unloading him. So he walks right in, snaps the lead rope on Maverick, and Maverick hops out. That darn bugger. Here he is making me feel like a total idiot for being so spooked. I think he was just showing off behaving and all. That darn bugger.

The trainer led him into the barn/stall area. He stopped once to look around. He wasn’t really even concerned about the other horses. He acted like a total pro. On the one hand I was totally impressed. On the other hand I was totally ticked. How could he have me SO buffalo’d. Almost makes me really upset that I’ve been intimidated by him for the past six months, a little not fair if I do say so myself. But that’s just me being selfish I guess.

The trainer walked him into a stall, unsnapped the lead rope, and threw in a bunch of hay. All Maverick did was grab a bite to eat and check out his other neighbors. I’m pleased he behaved as well as he did. The other horses were curious and Maverick was practically a gentleman. But he did used to play with King over the fence before I put the electric up.

So I guess maybe Maverick has a bit more potential than I thought before. I could see he really did want to try. I could walk out into his pen and he would follow me around. I know I made him out to be some monster but I think it’s more he didn’t know that he’s not allowed to do certain things. I simply don’t know how to teach him that those things are not allowed. So hopefully the trainer will be able to teach him and I’ll get back a well behaved horse. Hopefully his name won’t suite him anymore.

The trainer did once say that those horses with more aggressive names are typically really good horses. Those horses with sweet names are usually the really naughty ones. I’m hoping that Maverick will following in that saying.

Keep your fingers crossed that the next 30 days goes really well and Maverick comes back a total gentleman. I think I’m going to check up on Maverick a bit more often than I did with Chaos. I was new to the training scene and the trainer. Now we have a better understanding of what all we are both expecting so I may be a bit more of an annoying owner and stop out.

On a side note, we have a new member to welcome to Borderlands. Please welcome Sam the Belgian. I’ll add more later but I just wanted to quickly say that Sam the Man will now part of the Borderland family.

I’ll also have to post about Brego, Maverick’s herd mate and how he’s handling Maverick being gone. I think Brego may be a bit lost. But I’ll post more later.