It's been awhile since I last posted an update on my training/riding "program" with Max. As usual, the weather has been back-and-forth- hot one day, rainy cold the next followed by clear, cool and windy ad nauseum.
Needless to say, this has had an interesting effect on the horses and in my case, it's been challenging dealing with my boy Max. It almost seems that his evil twin moved in one night and the "good" Max went to Cancun for a vacation (or so it would seem). Last week, it seemed that everything was a fight- trotting, cantering, even walking at one point. Now granted he's got some arthritis for which I feed him joint supplements and the occassional dose of Bute, but most of this stuff is behavioral.
I also suspect that he resents me demanding more out of him- last year he used to get away with quite a few evasions and I didn't have the skill to call him on it and demand performance anyway (so example, dropping out of the canter whenever he felt like it). Let's just say that the riding crop and my right arm have gotten a good workout.
Saturday was interesting- he was allright until we were heading towards the barn. at one point I wanted to canter him (in a direct NOT going directly towards the barn). He saw some other horses and did his "crazy fresh horse dance" which means acting all excited and spooky at the same time- a few taps of the spurs got his attention back on me. It's kind of weird- I'm telling him that it's OK to canter but he's so excited that he forgot to actually DO it. Pretty strange.
Then we passed by trainer's place and another horse (a very large Freisan) was running around in the arena like a maniac. Max immediately thought some was wrong and began to start backing up...more correction (sigh). By the time I got back to the barn, I was exhausted.
Last Sunday it got so bad that he didn't even want to walk- that ended after a brief "discussion" and we proceeded to warm up. Later at my lesson, he actually did pretty good until he had a temper tantrum- that also ended pretty quickly and we got back to work. Jeeze, does it ever end?
However, Monday was completely opposite- he was energenic, ready to do anything, no questions asked. In fact, he was getting a tad TOO hot but I didn't get on him for that. We did the usual trotting, leg-yields and some running laps at a canter around the track. I deliberately didn't push him too hard and we took extra time to walk and cool down at the end. The Boy couldn't have done it better and he got a good bucket for his efforts.
Last night it has just rained and the footing was pretty questionable (plus it was simply too cold- I just didn't feel like dealing with it) so I turned him out and mucked out the swamp that's normally his stall.
Hopefully things will dry up this weekend and we can do some training with no issues. I guess the moral of the story is that everyday is a different day...:-)
Needless to say, this has had an interesting effect on the horses and in my case, it's been challenging dealing with my boy Max. It almost seems that his evil twin moved in one night and the "good" Max went to Cancun for a vacation (or so it would seem). Last week, it seemed that everything was a fight- trotting, cantering, even walking at one point. Now granted he's got some arthritis for which I feed him joint supplements and the occassional dose of Bute, but most of this stuff is behavioral.
I also suspect that he resents me demanding more out of him- last year he used to get away with quite a few evasions and I didn't have the skill to call him on it and demand performance anyway (so example, dropping out of the canter whenever he felt like it). Let's just say that the riding crop and my right arm have gotten a good workout.
Saturday was interesting- he was allright until we were heading towards the barn. at one point I wanted to canter him (in a direct NOT going directly towards the barn). He saw some other horses and did his "crazy fresh horse dance" which means acting all excited and spooky at the same time- a few taps of the spurs got his attention back on me. It's kind of weird- I'm telling him that it's OK to canter but he's so excited that he forgot to actually DO it. Pretty strange.
Then we passed by trainer's place and another horse (a very large Freisan) was running around in the arena like a maniac. Max immediately thought some was wrong and began to start backing up...more correction (sigh). By the time I got back to the barn, I was exhausted.
Last Sunday it got so bad that he didn't even want to walk- that ended after a brief "discussion" and we proceeded to warm up. Later at my lesson, he actually did pretty good until he had a temper tantrum- that also ended pretty quickly and we got back to work. Jeeze, does it ever end?
However, Monday was completely opposite- he was energenic, ready to do anything, no questions asked. In fact, he was getting a tad TOO hot but I didn't get on him for that. We did the usual trotting, leg-yields and some running laps at a canter around the track. I deliberately didn't push him too hard and we took extra time to walk and cool down at the end. The Boy couldn't have done it better and he got a good bucket for his efforts.
Last night it has just rained and the footing was pretty questionable (plus it was simply too cold- I just didn't feel like dealing with it) so I turned him out and mucked out the swamp that's normally his stall.
Hopefully things will dry up this weekend and we can do some training with no issues. I guess the moral of the story is that everyday is a different day...:-)
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