Despite the exciting news, I was still at Myrddin for a ride. I was able to connect with Barb before her lesson (She had been in my class wayyy back in the winter when I started doing lessons through the groupon promotion) and we played around in the field.
There are 3 medium sized fields filled with cross country jumps and the sand ring on the south side of the property, and there is one large field on the north side - that's where we started riding. Bentley and Bee hit it off (well they ARE stall neighbors now) and were particularly frisky. Lots of big trot with a few excited canters in there (although not always asked for!)
Barb then went for her lesson and I decided to explore the xc (cross country) fields. We had some more nice gallops, but Bentley typically had other plans and needed more convincing than usual when I tried to bring him back. My theory is he thought it was an OCTRA ride... trailer, sleep, then run through the forest!
I may have been a little hard on him, I don't mind if he wants to run, but when we do it, I like to practice lots of short runs to ingrain the idea of me being in charge. I wasn't too pleased after it took a few too many woahs and a harder sit and pull than usual. I kind of dwelled on this after our ride and complained a bit to Barb, who said I shouldn't be mad because hes a young fresh thing on a beautiful day, but still, I don't like when he challenges my decisions (by galloping down a steep albeit well footed hill). Both right, time to move on!
His punishment for this was ring work. We went into the ring and did some figures. By then, he figured it wasn't a race and settled into what I was asking of him although he was still hyper as anything. Barb finished her lesson and joined us for some more trotting and walking around the fields before it was time to head back.
Bentley still had a ton of energy, but nothing I could do about that! After all, we still don't exactly know his limit. Even after 2 Oktoberfest 12s he seemed to bounce back enough in a few hours that he was contemplating escape and didn't want to go home. Now that hes getting good food and spending nights in his stall, I may have to ride much more than before to keep him out of trouble. Good I guess, if only I had a time control device!
Oh and I didn't even mention about how happy he was when I went to fetch him from the paddocks for our ride. He had his own paddock with his OWN round bale. Hes not going to be skinny much longer!
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