Bentley and Rurik are complete opposites, so it was fun for her to be on a horse that is flexible, fast, and wants to work! I was able to give her some guidance and show her exercises I do with Bentley that she can bring to Rurik to get him more supple as well, it helps to feel what its like when its done right. Hopefully she can get out another time this week so that Bentley can have some extra attention and exercise through my busy week.
She even taught Bentley a new trick... how to unzip coat pockets. Uh oh... my treats and cell phone will never be safe again.
Between the 2 of us, he worked solidly for over an hour, with a LOT of trotting and some cantering. I did the cantering on him as hes still pretty unbalanced. His left lead is horrible in the small arena, however I was able to get a great canter out of him on his right lead. Sadly, Lee took blurry photos when he should have taken video. Either way I was beaming when we switched directions and he showed me that he is cabable and wants to have a nice controlled canter, but we will just have to work on that left lead. I will have to do more in the larger arena and clear out the jumps so we can form nice circles. I think that upper arena is just too tight for us right now. Another good note is he has not once yet picked up the wrong lead when I ask.
So after all of that, he was steaming and looked pretty tired. Gave him 5 minutes to cool off and he was already bopping his head up and down again like he could keep going forever.
He is starting to get light in both senses. His colour is very different from when I got him in December, and he is almost at the point where I will need to start adding some grain to his diet. Its nice to see the change from the fat horse he was to the stocky but almost lean horse he is now. I will have to prepare some photo comparisons. I may have a white horse by summer!
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