Moving a little closer to the 'present day'.

So, life goes on, and I do some normal horse stuff with they boy. I LOVE seeing him twice a day, every day, but it can be a little bit of a pain when we have evening plans. 97% of the time, it's just me and Tiki. The BM is never out there. I go in the front gate, shoo her boogers away, and go into the barn. Tiki is finally starting to spend a little time outside of the stall, and I was excited to FINALLY have shavings in his stall. I was on the verge of buying some pelleted bedding from TSC when the BM finally managed to go get a load to go in all the stalls. I rode him a few times in his pasture, and over in the park. I think the boy's going to be a little trail pony. We get on the little pseudo trails next to the river, and he just TRUCKS!

I'd discovered Tiki is a bit lazy. We've been working on consistency at the trot. He really wanted to trot fast/walk/trot fast/walk. He really was quite a challenge. Shortly, though, I found the 'magic button'.

That magic button was my spurs. When Tiki slowed down and wanted to stop, I just gave him a little rub with the spur, and he kept going. We began to work on circles, spirals, leg yields, turns on the forehand, and cantering on both leads. I really focused on STRAIGHT and deep corners. He has proved to be a willing and eager learner.

The next entry or 2 will be about the move to the new barn. I'd decided to move him because I just never felt comfortable at the farm with just me and the BM. I didn't trust her skills with the horses, I couldn't ask her to ever feed my horse a meal since I can't afford to offer up money for every little service, and I was constantly paranoid she'd put him out in the pasture with the barbed wire for whatever cockeyed reason. I'd gotten extrememly paranoid and territorial, and didn't even want the BM to look at my horse, much less actually put a halter on him and lead him everywhere. I didn't like that feeling; it'd be different if he actually lived at my house or something, but to be in someone else's barn, other people MUST interact with the horses. I'd visited the new barn and got a great vibe, so hopefully everything will work out.