Red's Second Ride

Red just keeps improving day after day and my confidence in him grows every time I work with him.

The day before yesterday I thought I may ride if he was being really good. I had him tied up and was grooming him and he was feeling a little fresh. So I turned him loose in the pasture and chased him around with the whip for a while. After he was nice and sweaty, I brought him back in and he was an angel. We lunged for a while and he was darn near perfect. He walked and trotted both directions really really well. I decided I would work him again the next day and then give a try at riding.

So yesterday I tacked him up and lunged him. He wanted to canter on the lunge so I let him. He was ready! He did several nice circles and was very calm, no bucking or kicking or being sassy. He was well behaved. Both directions he did beautifully and he was very calm. He doesn't stop much anymore, if at all. Going in a clockwise direction he will still try once or twice, but I can usually keep him going.

Ryan got home so I had him hold Red while I hopped on. We sat there again and he didn't care. Ryan walked us around, and he didn't care. So that may be the last time we do that. We are 2 for 2 and he really doesn't care in the least. Even Ryan commented on how calm he was.

Ryan took the halter off and I had him stand in the center of the pasture. We walked circles around him to mimic the lunge and again, he was great. We walked both directions without a problem so I decided to be brave and ask for a trot. He didn't object at all and was very well behaved. He didn't try a thing. He required a lot of leg as you will see in the video below, but other than that it went even better than I could have ever expected.

I can't wait until our next ride! We have a busy weekend coming up and the weather isn't going to cooperate, so it may be a few days before we try again.