Future Lesson Horse?

I've always entertained the idea of giving kids lessons on Gambler (after he's properly trained to be ridden of course). However, Mom says he's too spooky and he takes advantage of people. Well, he certainly takes advantage of me when he can, but I still think he has some serious lesson horse potential.

I started out the day yesterday by saddling him up western for the third or forth time. He responded the same way he usually does. He usually wants to trot super fast to get away from the saddle, and throw in a few bucks for good measure. Thankfully, he recovered from those episodes quickly. We even got some canter work in!

This time there wasn't a rope from him to chew, so he bit the stirrup. 

Whoo-hoo!

One of Gambley's bucks

If I just trot fast enough . . .

He did settle down

Canter Work

After that I took the saddle off and did some more circling work, partially to calm him down because he still gets a little worked up with the western saddle and partially to do more canter work. I got a really amusing video of Gambler longeing me. I don't actually go anywhere, but Gambler loves to play with the carrot stick. 

Eventually, I took that toy away and we headed over to the tarp obstacle while my brother filmed. 

I finished the day with a game of catching me. Gambler was a little distracted due to the fact that both my mom and my brother were sitting nearby and his marefriend was in heat. He did listen to me though. Now and then I lost him so I just patiently drove him forward and disengaged his hindquarters until he came back to me. 

So just as I was about to call it a day, my brother (who had been patiently taking pictures this whole time) asked if he could join in the fun. He wanted to try liberty, but it seemed a little too soon to me. He has longed Gambler before so I suggested he longe him over the tarp obstacle. Gambler was so good for him! He was gentle and docile as . . .idk a puppy? Puppies aren't as sweet and obedient as he was for my brother. Then, Gambler knocked over a pole. Whenever this happens to me I have to get someone to hold him because my horse has no conception of the words ground tie. But my brother just plops the rope on the ground with the instruction, "You stay right here." and my horse stays right there! Since when? 

Things like this make me think Gambley could help out with lessons. He seems to have a really good instinct to be calm and obedient instead of his normal quirky, troublesome/spookaholic self when he is around non-horsey people. There was a super cute moment in the end where Gambler sneezed on my brother and my brother jumped and squealed. Overall, I'd say this was a very fun and productive day!