Anyway, I treated myself to some quality Calvin time after work today. After being super discouraged about his feet after last weeks trim, I decided that we have to work harder. I've been going too soft on him! Well...mainly just his feet. No more cushy arena sand all the time, we need to get back to the gravel. With this in mind I get to the barn, the wind is howling, and I think I might be a little crazy to ride in this weather. But I already had my mind set, so we were going. We tried a new trail today because they are doing some kind of construction on my usual trail. This trail today was quite the adventure, neither of us had been on it and they were doing construction right next to the trail. I figured this would be a great time to get him used to tractors!
Chasing tractors!
He didn't really mind them too much, such a brave baby. We rode on a trail that borders a park and there were campers there with a bonfire. He was so concerned about that fire, something in his little wild brain knew that it wasn't good. Anyway, we didn't go too far as it was getting dark, but he did really well. His training is paying off and he's starting to listen to leg yields without rein aids (i.e. steering with only legs vs. hands), so cool!
This shot came out blurry because he shook his head--hence the cool mane effect. He also didn't want to stand still, but after a few tries he realized that standing still is much easier than backing up.
The way home was a lesson in patience, he obviously knew we were going home so he amped up his walk to the horse equivalent of racewalking (By the way this video is absolutely hilarious to watch if you've never seen racewalking...or even if you have!). Every time he'd break into a jog (i.e. trying to get home faster) I would calmly stop, back him up 10 steps, and make him stand for a minute or so. This was probably the most irritating thing I could have done to him, but it worked and he learned that we're going to walk home :) It also didn't require a fight, just calmly saying "no, we aren't doing that, back up now please and wait." Horse training is a great lesson in patience, probably more so for me than the horse.
When I got back to the stable and looked at his feet...ah...much better! They were perfectly clean, dry, and a little bit tougher. He's looking really good now, filling out and his coat is really shiny, I might have to bathe him and take some glamor shots ;) (PS he hasn't had a bath with soap in almost a year....ew!). I need to get updated pictures of his feet too. So much to do, so little time!
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