Tuesday

Junior got his first round of spring vaccinations today so there was no turn-out. He was in a pretty good mood and was pretty laid back. It was 77 degrees today so it was too warm in the arena, comparatively chilly in the barn and VERY windy outside but he didn't spook once, even with the very weird noises from the wind going through places and things flapping about. He was REALLY lazy on the lunge and did not keep his right lead going very long. That's the hind he skinned his stifle on Saturday so I was a little concerned but his gait seemed even I figured he was just lazy with the temp and from having his shots/deworming and that was the second direction. It was clear he didn't have extra energy so I put his bridle on and mounted. I put his old thinner pad on because the new thicker one has given him bald spots on his hips. I have to figure out what to do about that. It's not pretty and it's obviously not comfortable for him. I read a review of the pad that mentioned that happening and they said something about stitching fleece over the edge. Of course I cannot find that review any longer. I'm not sure if my industrial sewing machine can get through that pad, which would mean I'd have to sew it by hand and I'm not sure if I can do THAT. Anyway the thinner pad felt MUCH better on him than it did before he lost some weight. I think I'll keep in that one until I get the other one figured out. Give the hair a chance to grow back.

I rode for an hour. About 40 minutes in the arena and he was very good. We had some conversations, but they were small. His lope seemed faster than it has been, but he's using his hindquarters well and I didn't have to do as much maintenance. I even loped one-handed for a while, using my legs to keep him vertical, and we did a big figure eight with a simple lead change and it was really smooth. It was so warm in the arena I opened the gate (still mounted) and rode out around the farm. The outdoor arena was open so I jogged around in there for a bit. It was REALLY windy but was very well behaved. We finished up walking down the side of the big turn-out and back.

I had a long conversation with KAT when I was done. She thinks I should still try to do both Western and English this year. The plan is that when I am out of town next week for my conference she is going to to a couple of rides on him to get him to accept the different disciplines. Then when I get back I'll do a private lesson and she can teach me how to tell him what to do.

We talked about lessons, too. She think's we're working well enough together that he won't be too bothered by being ridden by different people. I told her if she has a student who she thinks would pair well with him we can talk about that and then perhaps after summer when I go back to school we can see how it works out in the lesson program. But that's a ways off.