The daffodils are out!
The alpaca babies are out! (I took this photo at an alpaca farm where I bought some wool for a scarf.) 
And Peter had another two sessions. I rode him in my corral at home which has dried up nicely after the spring mud. I worked on obstacles with him, like walking around barrels, stepping over poles and backing up between poles. These kinds of things make him nervous and he tends to want to rush through them, but working on them, whether I'm leading him or riding him, helps him gain trust in me and confidence in himself. Or that's the theory. He's getting less nervous with obstacles at home.
Today I rode him at the arena in town and put out some cones which he hasn't seen for a while. He was nervous when I asked him to back through them, so I led him through several times, and then realized he was even scared to touch the cones. So I rubbed one all over him (at first he backed away but eventually he let me touch the cone to him and relaxed when he found out it was soft). Then I backed him through several times. Next time I'll lead him through the cones and work up to riding him through them.
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