Day Three - First Touch

Today I was able to touch Rooster for the first time!  He is still pretty terrified, but tolerates me.  I was able to rub and scratch his withers, chest, neck and mane.  He is very shy about his face and would not let me touch him there.  Once again, it will simply take time to gain his trust, but we're on the right track.

Can't wait to get to work on that beautiful mane!

After a great session, it was time for Rooster to go back into his pen.  In the round pen, he has a visual of my other two horses, who happen to be mares.  In his pen, he can only see them from one corner.  I'm not sure if that's the reason, but it seemed likely.  He did NOT want to leave the round pen, so we had a little work to do.  I would lead him to the gate between his pen and the round pen, then he'd stop and go no further.  So I tried sending him through and he decided he wanted to just take off in the other direction.  He did pin his ears at me several times, but very briefly.  I am adamant about shutting that behavior down immediately, wild or not.  At any rate, I was finally able to coerce him back into his pen, but I'm hoping we don't have to go through this every day.  Time will tell!

Aside from that small issue, I am super happy with our progress!