End of Summer Updates

I can't believe it's mid-September! Calvin has been up to his usual antics, being goofy, level-headed, and sometimes a bit too smart. We've been spending equal parts trailing, lunging, and doing arena work. His top line is looking amazing, I'll have to post conformation shots soon because wow. He's (finally) learning his leads and his transitions are looking better. He's in good shape, no longer looking pasture-puffy and you have to love that summer coat.

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Lunging with the chambon -- super enthused and wild

oh you fancy

Speaking of "usual antics"--I went out to the pasture to grab him the a few weeks ago and no horse. I was freaking out... thinking he'd hurt himself, or someone else's horse, so the barn management had to move him. That was not the case though as I found him in a stall, sound as could be, without any marks... very curious. Well, turns out that he decided to jump out of the pasture. He didn't clear it as the fencing was down in one spot, but at least he didn't injure himself in the process. Sheesh.

"I don't know what you're talking about mom--I would never!" 

One of the regular ladies came at night to find him roaming around the property (probably eating--let's be real). Luckily he's the easiest horse to catch. In fact, he's really more dog than horse and just followed them happily around until they figured out that he was probably my horse. They then put him in a stall because if by some off-chance it wasn't Calvin, they didn't want to put him in the pasture because... well... the others don't take too kindly to strangers. Luckily it was indeed Calvin and I arrived in time to stick him back in the pasture, after they repaired the fence of course.

We have an old, new friend at the barn-- L. We've actually been friends for a long time, but only recently did she move her beautiful Arabian to our same facility!  Calvin is learning how to be the older, mature horse on trail and, surprisingly, is doing a really good job. Plus, I get to drool over her beautiful Arabian. It's great to have a friend who's willing to be adventurous with us.

Ol' reliable

It's not all rainbows and butterflies though. Calvin decided that this month he's going to revert back to baby-brain and start pulling back in the halter. He's never gotten free from this-- ever-- so I'm not really sure why he thinks sitting back and thrashing like an idiot is going to work. It also never happens for any particularly good reason (i.e. something genuinely scary happening). Lately though he'll back up for some reason (one time it was saddling, the other was using a sponge to clean his eye...), but the minute he felt that the lead rope was taught, he freaked the hell out in what I can only imagine to be OH NO MY LEADROPE IS TIGHT THAT MEANS I'M TRAPPED AND GOING TO DIE I BETTER THRASH AND ESCAPE.

Whoa buddy (not calvin pictured--same idea)

It's all over and he calms down in a matter of seconds, but those are definitely five-year-old mustang moments. As the owner of two other mustangs said, "you can take the mustang out of the wild, but you can't take the wild out of the mustang." Some days, that is definitely true.

Oh and we've been trailer training thanks again to L who has an AMAZING three horse trailer that she graciously let Calvin and I use to practice loading.  I've been consulting with other horse people, including L, and we figured out Calvin's trailer issues. He's not afraid of the trailer, perhaps a bit nervous, but really he just acts bratty because trailering isn't really what he wants to be doing. He's learned that backing out quickly gets him away-- well that ended the other day. I taught him that backing up=more backing up and going forward and into the trailer gets treats! He definitely figured it out and while he's not "swing the lead rope over his back and walk in" yet, at least he loads now. I'm just happy he's figuring it out --the little twit.

Always an adventure with the young horses-- but overall we're having fun. He enjoys people, doesn't seem to mind trails or arena work, and is happy with his pasture herd. It's not a perfect situation, but I'm finally happy with how things have turned out.

It's the little things 

(also look at that heel first landing... mmmm <3 )