Dude - Always on my Mind

I've been watching Dude going on 2 years now. I think I have him figured out. He is seriously smart. I just can't believe he is this smart and goes through this many steps of reasoning. Saturday, I set up one mister (water spray thing for keeping cool) for the horses. Matt loves to be sprayed, so he came and got next to it immediately. Dude got behind him and watched warily. Matt stayed in the mist for quite awhile, then they all wandered off again. The next day I looked out and Dude was completely hogging the mister. So, here's what I think his thought process is. He lets Matt be the guinea pig to see if it is safe. That's understandable. But, he doesn't just let Matt do that for a short period of time, Dude waits to see the long-term effects of the new thing before he ventures in. Then he takes his usual place as herd leader and takes the new thing first before the others. I just can't believe that he's smart enough to wait for the long term effects. That is scary smart. And poor Matt takes what Dude lets him have and backs off like the good little herd member that he is.

And herein lies the problem with Dude that is always on my mind. Will I ever get to the end of the gamut of tricks that he knows to get out of work? Seems like it will be exhausting. I'm going to start lunging him again as soon as the heat wave clears.