Freedom!

Well, mostly. I took Maverick out for his daily trip to the yard for grass tonight and he was "playful" to put it nicely. Walking along right beside me I could see him start to duck his head, but too late, he was up in the air kicking out his back feet with a squeal and a fart. He landed and looked at me as if to say "Sorry, just couldn't help it." Then we continued out to the yard for our grass. He's been coming along really well and will walk up to us now and let us put our hands on his halter without jumping back or stepping away. I was planning on letting him out in the pasture with Junior this weekend, but that jump and kick made me decide that earlier is probably better. So I ended up pissing off two horses today and making three more VERY happy. The girls went into the back pasture which has a good bit of grass coming up and Maverick got to run around with Junior tonight. What fun!

After I had separated the others, I led Maverick out of the cattle pen and unsnapped his lead rope while scratching an itchy place on his neck. I stopped scratching and he looked at me like, "now what?". Once he took a few steps and realized I was no longer attached to him he was gone! Months of frustration at being cooped up was released in a matter of minutes as he flew around the field investigating everything he could find. Eventually he made it to Junior, who was very grumpy and unhappy about the separation from his soul mate. Semi was also miserable, standing on the other side of the fence mooning at Junior. The young girls had already made a gallop around the pasture to find the best grazing and were busy stuffing their faces. I had thrown out some alfalfa for Junior, but Maverick just walked by it -- all he wanted was GRASS. I was able to get within a couple of feet of him and didn't try to get closer. I sat on the ground with the dogs for awhile and he came up right behind me and nudged me in the back. So I'm hoping tomorrow's breakfast will go well and he'll let Glenn rub him. Being out with the herd will definitly improve his health and mentality, so I think we'll see a lot of progress in the coming days!