Thursday, May 19, 2011

Back To Work

Abner has been leased by the neighbor, who is in middle school.  Although she has fun with him (and he seems happy), I feel bad that he isn't being worked as much. (She mainly does trail riding, but Abner does dressage.)  I have been making the effort to come out and work with him a little bit, and he is doing great!

He has picked up a habit of trying to pull the reins out of his rider's hands, which I assume is coming from being ridden by a girl who weighs maybe 90 pounds.  We ruled out any "pain", so I know he's mainly doing it because she allows it.  I showed her how to keep her hands still, instead of pulling back or just letting go of the reins- now that Abner realizes she isn't going to allow it, he has gotten a lot better. 

Aby and I have been doing a lot of trot work to keep our joints moving freely; we also are not quite ready to do work at the canter yet.  I have been riding in the rope halter when we just play, and he seems to like it.  He has been extra responsive lately, too.  If I am short on time, I don't even tack up, just ride bareback, and he doesn't behave any differently than if he had a saddle on.

Just wanted to post a quick update! I'll try to grab some pictures of him soon.

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