Just another one of those days ...

When the boy was freaking awesome, woo hoo! I actually showed up at the barn around 8:30 (in the chilliness) and got him all tacked up. Went to the front pasture, and reset some gymnastics I had set for my friend last night. She did a hay bale to a baby vertical to about a 2'3 vertical, all bounces. This morning, the hay bales were gone, so I just set those as poles, left the baby vertical (it's probably 21", so almost 2'), and set the bigger vertical as poles. Mounted and he stood quietly. Warmed up with my 2-point. Walked a full lap at the walk, then picked up my trot. As per usual, the boy wanted to get fast with me in 2-point. I let him. Stayed TOTALLY quiet, let him trot fast, and then he totally got it out of his system. VERY softly came down to posting, and posted a l o n g area. All the way from the gate down to the road, and back again. He felt awesome, like a "real" horse. My reins were soft, my leg was soft, and he stayed slow all by himself.:) Trotted through the poles, and did serpentines through them, making sure he was fine with the colors and stuff. This was to be his first time trotting over a regular vertical jump with standards and a pole. He's done the height, but it's always either been a log or a cavelletti. Walked him over the poles and up to the jump. He was fine; forward and willing. Then, it was time to bite the bullet. Trotted towards the gymnastic, grabbed mane, and he went through perfectly! Wasn't quite sure where to put his feet since it was bounces, so he did kick some poles, but he was SO willing. Went through again, and he bounced correctly. Went through one more time to reinforce, then turned around to make it harder. One pole, the jump, then bounce, bounce. He was GREAT! Went through one last time, then gave him a minute to walk on a loose rein and catch his breath. THEN I cantered, lol. Left lead, did a half circle, asked for a simple change and he didn't get it ... back to trot, asked again and he gave the right lead, cantered a big, soft circle, and quit with that. Gave him lots of pats and praise, and was putting him back in his stall just as Wayne the cowboy showed up. Rode the babies on a short trail ride, and they were GREAT! Will take Tiki to PWF tomorrow for my friend Becca to ride, then plan to trail ride on Sunday. Not looking forward to the early morning, but I am looking forward to having him out and about this weekend.:)