High 29 degrees Duke and I Walked to areas in the farm like never before

Duke was sweet, naughty tough and strong all at the same time.  He was sweet with me as I asked him to do his stopping and going by using verbal cues and not to rear up and stomp the dog he was upset with as we passed.  He was naughty by acting up when I was grooming him and being naughty when Kellie was getting in his area.  He was tough when he was responding to the new dog's acting like he was going to attack him and he did an "in your face" back to him and he was strong and sweet when he listened to me asking him not to rear up as he talked back to the dogs barking.  Sweet when he picked up my hat, trotted with me down the road and made sure I could keep up with his pace and waited at the top of the hill to just view the front end of the farm in the snow.  A scene I had never seen before.

I guess the dog has been doing bad things biting etc.  Duke was so tough he did get so angry and made snorting noises. It was difficult to calm him down in the dirt parking lot.  I tried to avoid the area near the dog but we needed to pass it to get to the other areas of the farm.  He really surprised me on how mad he got  We go by the dog pound and Duke is solid and stable as about 8-10 dogs simultaneously bark while running at his feet as we walk along the chain link fence of the dog pound.

Boarder Barn Area

At the top of the peak He let out a cool horse sound to let the other guys know he was walking around.  There were not boarders in sight but we were up at the boarder barn and we walked up the road.  It was beautiful.  He was so cool as we were out of where had walked before he made little sounds like he was excited that I was leading him to an area that he had never been. Also it was unusual for him to be walking like this with me.  He liked it and kept pace with me like a gentleman.  Very considerate, I could tell he wanted to start trotting and then go faster.

I loved walking with Duke today.  He was loving the soft snow we stepped into.  As we walked down the trails to the 2nd open field I remembered the beautiful fall day when we walked down there and he made noise to tell the other guys we were coming down the trail.

We walked together and I talked to him. He slowed down when I asked and 3 times we trotted together.  I was experiencing pure joy.  A snowy trail ride may have been nice but doing different things with Duke is a wonderful.

Four years on in the saddle with Duke I have a lot of on-the-ground time to make up to him.  Its pretty fun too.  I took a few pictures with Duke today. As I asked him to stop and go and slow down I was happy at how he listens.

After the first walk I took a break and went into the barn to brush him out.  Well it didn't take long before I thought he was acting up getting kinda nippy so I took him and we went for another 20min walk around the property.  We visited the areas and the girls working with Bobby on the fences.  It was fun an beautiful.

At the end of the day I couldn't help but go back and see Duke, Hershey, Domino and Bogie so I went back and gave out a couple of treats.