That moment when you realize you no longer have a lazy horse.

Okay, I've heard from various family members who have been around Red like, his whole life, and all they talk about is how lazy he is. He refused to trot, he never cantered, he hates galloping, you MUST have a crop-which I agree with but for other reasons!-and while I totally agreed for the first few months of owning my horsey, yeah, he's no longer lazy. At all.

We went to the barn this evening for a short visit and I decided to hop on Red for a couple minutes. Bareback riding is now like, my favorite thing. So easy to hop on and go to a pasture for a few minutes or sit on him while chilling out and talking.  He was sleeping when I got him out of the stall so I was like, "yeah, he's gonna be so lazy!!" Uh no. I tied him to spray and groom him, he did perfect. Never moved other than to attempt to knock over a bucket full of water. :P Then, randomly, I was like, "Hey let's try the snaffle!" because I've been wanting to try a bit since, 1. I can't show in a hackamore! Seriously?? 2. teaching horses to sidepass/back and etc is easier with a bit. 3. just for kicks. He bridled up like a pro, popped it in his mouth so easy like I've been doing it every single day. I hopped on, he did amazing with mounting, I walked him, he did good and acted like nothing was different. But THEN. THEN. Stubborn mule came out. He was suddenly very eager. He was literally being a giraffe.

I AM GIRAFFE HORSEY.  TOO FABULOUS.

So yeah, after a lap around the front pasture that's probably about 2 or so acres, I took the bit out and traded it with the hack. Boom. Good as gold. He was sassy but I still think it was mostly from him hating me momentarily for the bit thang and then the bugs were annoying..plus we were riding in the pasture where Annabelle was at and he was like, "I MUST GO SEE THE FILLY" but after a few minutes he did good. He reallllllly wanted to gallop. But nope, no galloping bareback, not yet. So I made him stick to a walk/trot. He did good. :)

:) :)

On another note I only almost fell ONCE. Even through the bit thing. :)) Yeah, never again. I grabbed a hold of his mane and told him to stop, he looked back at me like "Whatchu' doin'?" but he stopped as soon as I told him to..All in all we had fun. It was kinda scary at first because man, he was hot. :)) But as soon as the bit was out I could feel him relaxing more.


He has a patch of stinking cellulite on his butt now, lol!! I need to either, A. cut back on feed, or B. work him more. Like, serious work. Not just trail rides. I've ridden him 3 times this week which is great for us, since mom had her surgery it's been hard to get out there a ton, sadly. But this Fall he's going to be started on the trot poles and we're going to hopefully have him started on cavalettis in the winter. Depends on how fast I can build some, haha.

Anywho, he did great with dismounting today. :) No more trouble with that, just need to work on mounting.

 

he also followed me around the pasture for a good thirty minutes until A came in with treats for Annabelle. She's doing good but still seems sad. :(

Also, if you care, here are the black and white versions of the above pictures!