Blue bird days, does it get any better? well, maybe if it was +12 but we can't have it all.

After a two week spell (a freshen as I like to call it) it was time to get back into the swing of things. For the first time in a while no exercise sheet was needed. Sun was out and sitting on 0, a good day for ride.

The little temper tantrums have reduced quite a bit. We no longer buck, try to take off and just standing nicely to get on, but we're jogging like a race horse. No big deal just relax, no stirrups and let the horse calm down. It still an improvement from what it was. With in 5-10 minutes we're walking like a normal relaxed horse. So off to the back field we go, with 2 dogs in tow. As we get to the bridge the dogs flush out an Elk with a badly broken leg. So back we go and call the conservation officer. No point in head back out there as stressing an already stressed animal isn't fair.

We head to the road field and start with some flexing, schooling figures and all I can say is when this guy's brain is calm, he is such a beautiful ride. Willing, forwards, balanced but still retaining his personality. We're still having a little issue with flexing to the left but it's not something I'm overly worried about. He has a chiropractic session this week which will help a lot. When I was riding for Freedman's the horses that had come down from Sydney were the same, stiff flexing to the left. A couple of chiro sessions and flexing to the left softened. Yes we made our racehorses do basic dressage in Melbourne.

Transitions have also improved. The trot to canter which was the major issue (I'd ask for a canter and he thought RUN RUN FAST AWAY RUN) has improved, no rushing and now I have his attention and smoothness. After going back and working on halt, walk, trot and back to have these dialed with smooth transitions then it was time to try a canter. As the old saying goes, you can't run before you can walk. To me it applys to horses. Getting a horse calm settled and traveling forwards at slower pace before picking it up a bit. More so when the horse has a history of “bolting”. I don't really think this was his problem, from what I have experienced from him, he just was never broken in properly.

I can't blame a horse for confusion. The bucking was never pain induced, fear yes. Same with the taking off. I can't blame him because someone didn't do they job properly. He was just a confused scared horse. Riders that horses have, molds them into the animals they become. Just that by the time the horse falls into right hands, tags have been given. Bolter, Bronc, Chronic Rearer. Issues like these are not always pain induced, positive re-enforced by riders (who do not realize they are doing it) not confident or the skill to handle that animal, yes. No horse is born a bad horse.

I just have the added bonus, fear issues, high flight response, not properly broken in and rider induced habits. It just means I have to hear what my horse tells me, spell when needed, adjust to his needs and share my peppermints now and then.