I went out later in the day, with attempts in mind to catch and halter Harley. Halter him, pet on him, hand him a cookie or three, and unhalter and be gone.
He had other plans.
I chased, I tried walking slowly, I tried showing absolutely zero interest in him every time he looked my way... But NOTHING was working.
After fifteen minutes of trying, I quit. I walked over, flipped his feed bucket upside down, and sat on it. I looked at the ground, every so often glancing Harley's way. Finally, I settled for Harley looking at me curious a few times. He stood butt facing me, looking up over his shoulder.
I went inside, absolutely frustrated. I didn't intend on "making him work", but all his running around wore him out physically, and me mentally. I never got upset, I didn't have any emotional reaction, at all...
Later that evening, Jennifer showed up at the house, walked into his pen, and Harley trotted off to the back of it, behind a cluster of trees. She gently said , "Whoa, hey now", and slowly walked back to him. No halter, no cookies, no bribery. She walked right up to him... RIGHT to him. *sigh* She invited me to join her. And so I walked up slowly. As I approached, Harley tried to get away. Jen cajoled him into waiting until I got there. He sniffed my nose, I pet on him a bit, we talked and left the pasture.
Hoping after Sunday Harley would find me "safe", I prayed Monday would go just a touch better than Sunday.
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