Fun little weekend!

I had a great weekend with Bear!

I slipped out of work Friday in order to get out to see him just before dark. So we didn't do much, but I threw a saddle on my mare and took the two of them down the road and back so that he's at least been off the property. The funny thing is he can't keep up! My mare is like 14 hands on a hill, and between the fact that he's 5 inches taller (all in the legs) and his head is the the height of a giraffe, he towers over the top of her. And yet, she has this power walk that no horse can compete with, and once she gets out onto the trail she turns it on full force. I swear someone lied about her breeding; she's purebreed arabian, but based on her walk I would swear she's got some sort of weird gaited breed in her! Really its just impressive that a horse that small can walk so much faster than the giraffe. But it is a good thing because it will help him get into the habit of a big free flowing walk.

Saturday we trailered out the the local arena and he got a good lunging with side reins for the first time in a while. I really don't like lunging in the pasture since even the flat parts are sloped, especially not with side reins since he's too likely to slip a back foot or stumble and catch himself in the mouth. So it was nice to work him in side reins again, although I still haven't tightened them up much since it hasn' t been a regular thing. Then I got on him and had my sister pony me around the big arena. So this was all sorts of new firsts because it was a huge arena and seems more open, it was the first time I got on in a dressage saddle and posted at the trot, and there were two other horses being ridden in the arena which was a first for him. So a big success overall!

Then Sunday we did a quick session in the round pen, still with my mare, but we let him off the line to do some circles and turns, and turned it into a follow the leader game where she followed him, then we'd circle back and follower her. He's so relaxed about the whole thing, and really gets what turning means, its so great! Then I got off and just stood with him in the middle and he took a nap while the mare got jogged around the round pen. Such a good boy!
He gets today off, but tomorrow we'll be doing more work away from the other horse.