Saturday, April 11, 2009

April 10, 2009

Today we arrived at the stables a bit earlier than usual. LBR had obviously just finished dinner and wasn't expecting us so early. He walked up about 1/2 way through his paddock but didn't come to the gate. Gary entered the paddock and haltered him without incident.

We groomed and headed to the round pen. LBR worked well at the walk/trot/whoa for Gary for about 15 minutes in both directions. We decided to introduce the canter tonight. At first, LBR just wanted to do the extended trot but eventually broke into the canter (clockwise). He cantered initially on his left lead (incorrect) and then switched his front lead to the right and cross-cantered for a few times around the ring. We switched directions to counter clockwise and he again chose the left lead (correct) and cantered in a much better balance. Gary brought him back down to walk/trot and we took a brief break.

Cindy then worked him in the round pen and LBR walked/trotted/cantered (this time he picked the correct lead both directions) for a few minutes.

We headed down to the stables for our continued barn training. We let him graze a bit before leading him into the stables (no incidences other than a bit of a "huffing" at the horses in the stalls - they hadn't all been turned out for the evening). We backed into the grooming stall and watched the remaining horses be led out to their paddocks. We groomed LBR for a bit and then headed back to the paddock.

We are amazed at this continued progress and ability to overcome challenges so quickly.

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