Another one of those loooong days. We've got lots more patents that need to be filed over the next few weeks. So many that the firm has hired a guy from New Orleans temporarily to help prepare applications and responses to some of the office actions. Glad the attorneys got some help, but I have to say I DO wish they'd get me some help as well!
I wouldn't have minded nearly as much if this had happened during the worst of the winter or during the rainy season. But oh no . . . instead I've got to work all hours now - during perfect weather for working with the horses - and Arthur.
Well, I've made my plane reservations for next month now, so once that May 9 date arrives I'm OUT OF HERE. Obviously, what I do isn't all THAT difficult, but only one of the attorneys actually knows how to prepare the filing papers and how to actually file the applications online, so I sure hope we get all those applications filed before time for me to leave. I'm going to feel really guilty if one of them is forced to deal with all of that as well as preparing the actual application.
But enough of that. I have been spending at least a little while with Arthur and the horses morning and night. With Arthur, I've been petting and brushing him while he eats to get him used to me touching him. When I used to hang the bowl up, sometimes he would race outside if I so much as lifted a hand before I could even so much as touch him. Then he would wait for me to leave before coming back to eat. So I stopped leaving the feed in there unless I was there as well. And now, when I first take him his food, I wait for him to come to me and eat while I'm holding the bucket. Then as he eats, he has to let me to touch his face and head. And if he walks away, I take the bucket with me and just leave his stall for a while. If he stays still, then after a while I hang the bucket on the wall and brush the rest of him while he eats. He's been doing better all the time.
Mark came home today - he was only home for two days after we brought Arthur home so Arthur may not remember him. Anyway, while Mark was watching, Arthur kept leaving his stall again. So I finally just put the food away and went back in the house for an hour and a half. When I finally went back out with his food again, he was standing right there at the stall door. When I opened the door he stood there quietly and when I offered him his feed he walked right up and let me pet him as if he had never even considered objecting! So I hung it up and spent the next 15 minutes or so brushing him and then petting him. He never objected a single time, even after he finished eating. So he obviously knows perfectly well what he's supposed to do. I'll tell you what - dealing with a mule is a WHOLE different ball game from handling a horse. This mule thing could definitely take some time!
2 comments:
This is what my vet once told me. "If you have a horse with a bad habit and you break him of the habit, you have a pretty good horse. If you have a mule with a bad habit and you break him of it, the mule will pick up a new bad habit."
I don't know if it is true or not but that was his advice when I was looking at mules!
LOL! I sure HOPE that's not the case with Arthur. We'll find out, I guess, but the people I've talked with who HAVE mules all absolutely adore them and have no intention of returning to horses, so I have more or less put aside all the bad stuff I hear and read about mules since it's generally from folks who don't actually HAVE one. Hope I made the right decision!
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