Day 90?!

Doc and I have had a couple of great days.  Yesterday we went for our walk down the "back 40", and we had a wonderful time, as usual.  He was perky and willing to go anywhere I asked him to.  For some reason, soft ground makes him incredibly frisky though.  I think it is just plain hard for him to walk in, but nonetheless, he starts moving very quickly:  bucking, and leaping around like a fool.  On the one hand, I just want to laugh and watch him, but on the other, I feel the danger of the situation with my arm holding the lead rope only 6 feet from my body!  We can be walking through the woods calmly and  under control, but as soon as we hit a clearing with squishy ground, off he goes!  It doesn't happen every time, but usually at least once during our walk.  I have learned to anticipate his silliness, and can usually shut him down before he gets to that point, but every once in a while, he surprises me.

Today we went to the arena again.  My lesson with Cohasset was at 6:00, so we tried to get down there early enough to have a good pony session.  After about five minutes of trailer loading review, we were on our way.  When we got to the arena, Doc was very excited.  I managed to brush him, pick his feet, and clean his wounds, but then he needed to get moving.  The first thing he did when we got into the arena was roll.  The soft, dry dirt must feel so good to him. 


Feels so good!



After his roll, I turned him loose to let him stretch his legs.  At first, he followed me around like a puppy dog.  That made me smile  :)  But when he finally challenged me, I sent him away for a run.  I have never seen him run flat out before.  What a wonderful sight!  He had his tail up, and was bucking and farting with all his might.  His hind legs didn't seem to slow him down one bit; that is for sure!  He did have a bit of a bunny-hop on the back legs, but not too bad, considering.

Runnin' free

Once he had almost completely worn himself out, we did some real ground work.  I was certainly glad again for Gail's advise on a good ground session before trying to pony.  He still had some high energy to work out, and I had to prove myself again as his leader.  Once he is reminded of how to follow, Doc is quite the gentleman.  It just takes a gentle reminder in the form of our seven Parelli games to get back to that happy place.

Gettin' frisky!

We finally were able to get Cohasset out and start our ponying session.  In the meantime, Gail brought one of her horses in the arena to work with.  This added a new layer of energy to the situation, but both of my horses handled it like professionals.  Of course, Cohasset is used to having other horses worked around him, but I could see a heightened level of awareness in Doc.  He never let it get the better of him though.  Cohasset acted as the perfect teacher for his pony, yet again.  When Doc got a little too far forward, Cohasset gave him a little warning nip to put him back in his place.  This was a great supplement to my own corrections, which were sometimes not effective enough.  Thank you Cohasset!

Checking out the "cowboy curtain"

Here is one wound picture for today.  I promise to get more for you tomorrow.  I think the open part of the wounds are much smaller now.  It is such a slow process that it is hard to see any change from day to day.



Maybe tomorrow we will try to go on a ride around our own neighborhood!

Until then,
Jackie