A lesson in humility

Nothing like horses to bring you back to Earth with a thump!
Yesterday I had a great play with Trigger! This horse is so LBE and his RBE behaviour, which I am convinced comes from his racing days is becoming less and less pronounced every day. For instance yesterday, he self loaded in the trailer, cantered on a 22 feet line with the line loose and did not have to move his feet all the time. Even in our Free style ride he was able to stand still and calm. So here I was thinking that I am getting pretty good with horses...Ah!Ah!!!
The reverse side of the coin is that as his RBE traits disappear, his LBE are becoming stronger and today he really tested my leadership. He would not let me catch him in the paddock! How Interesting! Cisco, my other horse came to me and we went and hang around and grazed for a while. Then when Trigger's turn came, he allowed me to give him a rub but instead of putting his halter on he walked off. His paddock (pasture) is about 30 acres so the catching game was not going to work. They were 3 horses in the paddock that day and Trigger is the alpha. I tried sitting down with my back turned to see if they would come. They did for a while but as soon as I stood up, Trigger had them on the move again. So I did what an alpha would do:"Called the shots and moved their feet" With a paddock this size, no need to tell that it was pretty hard work for me but after about 30 min of this game, I could tell that there were not so keen on running around so I then used reversed psychology and herded the other two horses to the bale of hay but kept Trigger out of the herd. He kept wanting to come in but I did the alpha mare look and managed to keep him away. By that stage I had decided that I was not even going to try to halter him that day.
It was getting late so I went to get the feeds ready. At feeding time, I made Trigger wait last for his feed. When I finally put his feed in his bucket I waited till he asked me if he could come in with a positive look on his face.
Well, I did chose Trigger because I knew he was going to be a challenge and I can't expect to become a good horseman just with easy horses. So this was one of these OH BOY moment that made me questions myself. Clearly, a reality check was just what I needed!