Perseverance

On Thursday, I picked up where we left off; circling, with the bareback pad and the bridle, under the trees. I opted for the bareback pad instead of the saddle, because I believe in carefully choosing my battles. That is a battle that I want to fight on my terms and I wasn't sure how Gambler was going to behave after the windy day fiasco.

It was a beautiful day. It was colder than Tuesday, certainly not short-sleeve weather, but still warm. Most importantly, there was only a slight breeze.

This is where we started. Gambler of course, thinks that because I gave him a break on the freakishly windy day I am going to back off if he decides the trees are scary. Tough luck buddy. There is no crazy wind and you have no excuse. You can see that he is trotting instead of starting at a calm walk. His head is up in that horrendous place - you can see the strength in the muscles underneath the next instead of on the top. Ewe! Pun intended. 

He was crowding my space on the side by the trees too. Usually I would point the stick and string toward his shoulder to move him out on the circle, but he was using that as an excuse to canter, which I didn't want him to do.

This is a really good shot of my cue to walk on. My posture, however, is not good. My body language should be telling him to go forward, but I have a leg cocked and my body is completely relaxed. My bad.

Giving him the cue to walk. He didn't like that idea.

He did bolt into a canter a few times, as well as buck at one point. I'm not encouraged by the bucking. He hadn't pulled a stunt like that in a long time. Now that I am riding him, the last thing I want to know is that he will buck in a scary situation. 

Caught mid-spook! My motto is: If my horse is going to misbehave, I want it on camera.

Looking for the source of the spook - a tractor smoothing the driveway.

Asking Gambler to lower his head as the tractor passed. This naturally calms a horse down (or so I've heard) and is a good habit for conformation's sake.

Watching the tractor pass - with the driver blurred out. Still asking Gamby to lower his head.

The tractor passed every few minutes. When it was nearby I let Gambler stand and watch it and when it was a ways away I asked him to continue circling. He calmed down a lot after that and began carrying himself much better.

An awkward picture, but you can see what I'm talking about. The head is lowered, and the inside foot is tracking up underneath him, engaging the back.

Here his head is back up in the air and he is pulling himself along with his front end, not what I like to see, but he was looking toward the scary tractor.

Head is back down, and check out that trot - three feet off of the ground! You can see his back rising a little under the bareback pad.

Here the head is up, but he is flexing at the poll, using those muscles in his topline. The back hoof is reaching up toward the footprint of the front hoof. I probably need to start using the bell boots again.

He had no problem walking long and low, stretching out his back and blowing. I'm not sure I've ever seen him relax that much. He lowered his head so much that he stepped on the rope! That is a new problem. I think it's a good problem to have. Thankfully he sorted it out without panicking. 

Blowing as a release of tension.

You can see the huge difference in the way he carries himself, especially his neck.

He just kept stretching lower and lower.

And then he stepped on the rope. As you can tell from the picture, he wasn't upset at all. After this whenever he lowered his head too much I pushed him into a trot. Low is good, but that's a little too low.

After the tractor incident, Gambler cantered without a problem. It is good to know that he only bucks when afraid (at least in the bareback pad). I prefer that he wouldn't buck at all, but that will come as he gains confidence in new situations. 

I. Love. This. Picture.

I was hoping to get more pictures of Gambler when Mom took Kezi for her daily walk and Gambler set off on his daily run of the fences. To my disappointment, Gambler decided he didn't actually care anymore. 

Do I love Kezi? Or do I love hay?

Kezi who?

Instead I captured some artistic photos of the golden hour.

Of course, after the sun went down, and the light was all but gone, Gambler lost sight of Kezi and became gorgeously frantic. On top of it all, my batteries died after a few badly-lit pictures. 

One of Gambler's (not-so-gorgeously) frantic pictures. That neck needs help. His back looks good though.