Slept late this morning, not surprisingly, considering it was well after midnight by the time we wound down and got to be last night! I went ahead and made breakfast for myself because I figured Hubby would be sleeping later, too, with all the pain meds he's taking post-surgery. He wasn't too long after me, though, so I fixed his breakfast, too. I eventually went out and got the old bridle that I had tried to fit on Flash the other day, but that looked huge on him, and started looking at all the ways I could readjust it to make it smaller. Naturally the leather was stiff and it took some doing, but I put on a good coat on neatsfoot oil and managed to adjust the straps, not quite to the smallest holes, but next to smallest, just to see how that worked. I took it out to the paddock and tried it on, and it was perfect! Even the snaffle that looked too large before seemed to fit quite well, and the length was just perfect, the snaffle just wrinkling the corners of his mouth the tiniest bit. He has a habit of chewing the bit, I've noticed, the first dubious habit I've seen him exhibit, but it could just be that he hasn't had a bit in his mouth in so long that he has to get used to it again, or that it feels differently than whatever his previous bit was. I know that generally the Paso Finos are shown with a curb bit, so that could be the reason. Anyway, once I got that squared away, I brought him out of the paddock to the front door and got him in his saddle and bridle and walked him over to the round pen area. With stirrups flapping, I lunged him around a bit to see how he did, and he wasn't bothered at all. I finally got my helmet on and slowly mounted him, in steps, and he stood perfectly still, thankfully, until I was fully settled in and urged him out. We walked around a bit, and the more I worked with him, the more he responded, much more flexible than I thought he might be. It felt like he was expecting me to ask him to do more, and it felt like he was trying to collect himself in anticipation, so I get the impression he's been shown at some point. Since I have not idea how to get him to do that classic "fine feet" gait, I just let him relax instead. He relaxed so much that at one point, he decided to lay down and roll! I hopped off, of course, and the remounted and continued. I got him into his gait just a bit, but the circle is a little small and some of the footing a bit soft, so I took him out to the driveway and up to the gate. He didn't want to go up the driveway at first, so I needed to gently persuade him to go in that direction, and eventually he went along with it, indicating he's starting to trust me a bit. At the gate, I let him stand with his head over the gate for a few minutes before heading back down again. To finish off the day, I starting circling him around trees, which at first he didn't want to do, but after I asked him nicely a few times, he moved out just fine, with a beautiful flex, indicating he's starting to trust me even more. One thing for sure, this is a smart and previously well-trained horse that's been left to grow fallow in recent years, and we are the happy beneficiaries! I can't wait to get him into a more open space, either an arena or maybe just around the neighborhood, and start to build on his foundation. I suspect he's never been on a trail, before, so this should be an interesting journey! Finished our training session, moved on to dialysis, finishing the day with a nice chili dinner and a quiet evening.
Speak Your Mind