Merry Christmas

I had to laugh to myself, while posing for these pictures. Just a few months ago I was reading other people's old blog posts and laughing at their snowless Christmas photos. Well, here I am, posting snowless Christmas pictures. Do I live in Wisconsin or Florida?

I arrived at the barn today to see a very photogenic Gambler. 

Everyday that I go to the barn he walks up to the fence to meet me. I think he just wants his food.

Gah, those gorgeous white eyelashes . . .

You can see his double-swirl here. One in between his eyes, the other up and to the right.

Kezi, are you coming?

But when I stood him in front of some pretty trees (the horse-eating trees to be specific) and stuck a bow on his head, we could not get a good picture!

He wouldn't hold still for the camera to focus.

He wouldn't stop yawning.

Hiding my face and licking the lead rope.

If the yawning wasn't bad enough, I have a ridiculous look on my face.

I love him anyway.

"Would you just stop it? Seriously?"

Then we got to work. I started by putting the bareback pad on Gambler. He was much better about the cinching process today. He didn't move around (as much), grunt, or bite. He didn't even put up a fuss when I tightened the girth later. I'm never sure what to call the cinch/girth/thing on the bareback pad, because it doesn't look like a cinch or a girth.

I led Gambler around, because he needed refreshing. I want him to get really good at walking when I walk, turning when I turn, and stopping when I stop; on and off line. He used to be good at it, but we haven't played that game recently.

Creepy flash eyes.

I dragged a couple poles out of winter storage to make things more interesting. Twice when I hopped over the caveletti, Gambler jumped it too. He didn't have to jump them, they were small and we were only walking over them. He chose to follow my body language, which is exactly what I want him to do.

Another thing that I have been planning to try is walking with him with longeing him. Normally I stand still and ask Gambler to circle me, but I realized that I want more control of his body, which can only be done when walking beside him on the circle. So today I started following him while he was longeing. At first he was confused, but he figured it out and I think that he'll catch on quickly. 

I asked Gambler to trot over one of the cavalettis a couple times. He didn't want to and he kept tripping on the frozen ground, so I let him walk for the rest of the day.

After that, I did some mounting prep. At first Gambler was really relaxed, more relaxed than he has been in a long time. He was licking and chewing even when I was leaning on his back. You could almost hear him saying: "Oh this, I can handle doing this again."

When I jumped over his back sideways his reaction was more like: "What is this? I didn't say you could cross that line!"

 One step forward, two steps back. But he is did much better today than the last time we tried. He is improving every day.