Trailering and Challenging

I have noticed a behavior in Dude which may related to his other issues. I call it the "big blustery challenge" (BBC). He loads pretty well for going somewhere, but doesn't want to load to come back home (I swear I drive carefully!), but the weather has been hot so I don't blame him too much. So, twice now he has REFUSED, head way up, trying to shake nose rope off, pulling back, backing up. At the chiro, I had a stud chain on him. When he pulled back, I jumped out of the back of the trailer (to keep ahold of the rope) his eyes got big, but he kept backing up so I snapped the crap out of his nose with it. He gave up all bluff and bluster and got into the trailer.

Sunday, at the park, I had the lead rope looped on his nose (because he'd been refusing to get in for several tries) and he started his head up crap again. I jumped out of the trailer and yanked hell out of the rope and he stopped his crap and got in. So, I've got to remember that he's always, always going to challenge me to see if he can get away with acting like a neurotic, crazy jerk. I may actually try fussing at him to make him stand still to be saddled since he hasn't really improved through gentle persuasion methods. I'm getting tired of saddling being such a damn chore. The weather is too hot and I'm too old and fat.

ETA: I'm still trying to discern when he's being a stubborn jerk drama queen (SJDQ) as opposed to when something is really hurting or frightening him. I am getting better at guessing right and acting accordingly.