Reversibles...

I've been working quite a lot with Pippin, particularly on his manners. He had been on & off  difficult to catch. While leading he'd try the old  move her over with shoulder, neck, noggin. He might even attempt to turn his naughty bum into you. Very rude little boy & always thinking. 

Merlin has been an uncomplicated kind of guy. Leading like a gentleman with just your hand cupped under his chin. He'd catch himself, unless Pippn thought he should keep Merlin from being caught. Just an all around easy kind of guy to be around and work with. 

Problem with the squeaky wheel getting greased more often is the unsqueaky one gets rusty!  Pippin is now the one to come trotting, Walks along happily and particularly enjoys the clicker now. Quite the loveable turd. 

I mentioned Merlin being fearful of the clicker & that I was planning to put clicking Merlin on the back burner. To late!  As the clicker was in my hand, he's now quite fearful of my hand. SIGH!  Poor Merlin feels I can no longer be trusted. 

I went out to groom & play, Pippin came right up (he must be caught first still), tied him with knots well out of reach, he can untie even a series of knots.  Went to catch Merlin, he was "Oh, Hell No" taking off at a dead run. After a few tries, I took the pressure off him and groomed Pippin. Went back out to get Merlin, once again "Oh, Hell No" Sooooo, I decided to help him decide he'd like to be caught. Twenty minutes later, still "Oh, Hell No", it's gotten warm, it's muddy, I'm outta shape, we"re in the big pasture, I'm whooped. 

I take Pippin into the paddock, leaving Merlin alone while I get something to drink and rethink things. Pippin on lead line, we make our way back out and gently encourage Merlin into the paddock. I leave Pippin in the pasture, shut the gate and try again. Another "Oh, Hell No", I shut the barn door basically round penning in the paddock. After a bit, I reopen the barn door then allow him to think it's his escape route. It worked!  Shut the door, give him some time to decompress. Then, round pen him in the barn. One nice thing about Mini's is you don't need a large area, one bad thing is you don't want a large area sometimes lol. We made nice, groomed, rubbed, leading, my Merlin was back following me without the lead line again. Fingers, hooves crossed that if this isn't the last of it, we'll get things worked out soon.