Yesterday we had a really good session! I no longer need the whip to touch him first, he will let me walk up to him and touch him with my hand. So yesterday I roped him again and worked on bringing him off the fence of the round pen to see how good he would stay with me since the fence isn't there to hold him. He did really good! By the end of our training session he was standing in the middle of the round pen allowing me to stand at his shoulder and rub him all the way to his ears and a little around his jaw. He is also letting me pet him on the point of the shoulder and his chest. Before, this was an area that if you got the whip there he would strike, so that is a huge improvement. Cabrito even stood quietly while I un-threaded his neck tag and finally got the darn thing off of him! So he is officially no longer #3235! lol. Spencer worked with him a little bit too (I think he's curious more than anything) and started to see how he felt about a rope coil being slide up over his nose. He did pretty good with that and seemed comfortable. Spence also started getting Cabrito okay with someone maybe wanting to touch his face as he's still pretty leary of someone coming at him from the front. Overall though, Cabrito did really well and seems to be getting more and more relaxed with us messing with him. We even led him from the round pen back to his pen and then took the rope off in there. This morning he let me walk up to him in his pen and pet him with BOTH hands - so there is definitely some trust being gained. I'm still worried about not getting done what I need to before the competition, but I know that no matter what, Cabrito is going to be a great horse!