Andy's Walk In The Woods

Last night it was decided that we would ride bareback. I've always loved to ride bareback and it is important to me that my horse goes well sans tack. So I throw the bareback pad on him (his spine would ensure that I never have children!) and hop on. I opted to use a bridle today although I don't always when I'm going bareback but he's been a tad fresh lately. We walked, trotted and cantered around. He was actually very good! There was three children running around in the ring with us which made for some distractions that we could work through. He wasn't spooky about them - just watching. He's starting to get to the point where I need to work him daily and lunge him if he's missed a day. So far it hasn't been a problem but with the cooler weather on the way and him gaining more muscle, I can see there will come a time when daily work is necessary.

To cool down we went for a walk through the woods. By this point it was dark and the woods was black. We couldn't really see anything other than trees and sort of where the path was. The children were up ahead of us which was just fine. Their dog was running through the woods and I thought that was going to be a bigger issue than it was. He just stood there and watched. On the way back the dog went through the woods again and Andy started dancing. I calmed him down enough that he would walk and we power-walked the whole way home, which was fine. He had been so good and didn't spook that he's allowed to walk quickly, so long as he isn't falling down.

Afterwards we worked on our bowing and going around a barrel. He was good on both accounts. I think tonight it is time to start working on a new trick - I just haven't decided what yet. He gets the bowing part - I've started working on him going down on one knee. I should give it a different command so that I can use both forms of the bow. Again, I have to decide what I want to call it. He's such an awesome horse. I never thought that having a three-year-old would be so easy!