Trailer Time

Old Man Winter finally arrived, bringing us 5" of wet white stuff. I didn't try to go out yesterday as it was a steady downfall, but today was mostly sunny and totally drippy, so I hitched up and loaded the horses to go down to the indoor arena.

This was Flyboy's first time in the "new" trailer. My handy fix-it man did a pretty good job on the slant panel. It is now open and affords a nice view of the rear of the trailer as well as out the back and side stock windows. I am hoping that the open feeling will help Fly to relax and not feel so claustrophobic. It did seem to work this afternoon as we trailered both ways without incident. No loading issues at all, and NO scrambling out in a backwards rush, thank goodness. If fact, I actually had to "encourage" him to back out since he was quite intent on his hay net. I am teaching him to back up when I tug on his tail. He gets it.

I let the horses run and roll before getting to work; they were excited to see Tammy's two mustangs and ran back and forth showing off for a while. I was scheduled to give a lesson on Keno and tacked him up with his borrowed child-sized English saddle. He was a very good lesson horse and for the next hour patiently did all that was asked of him. Lazily, too, but hey, patient is good.

Fly got to stand tied at the rail during the lesson. There were several other horses at the arena, and he was completely relaxed. Bored, too, because he thought about pawing once or twice, but just a slow, half effort kind of pawing, nothing anxious or impatient---more like drawing in the dirt!

When Keno was finished, it was his turn to relax at the rail. I saddled Fly and warmed him up at the walk for a few minutes. When I asked him to trot he jumped into it enthusiastically and was soft and forward. We worked in circles around a barrel at one end of the arena and tried to stay out of the other rider's way. She was working her barrel racing horse quite hard and fast and although Fly glanced their way occasionally, he kept his mind on our work. His canter was lovely! We worked both directions on the circle and did lots of big and small serpentines as well. We joined the other horse and rider for a cool-down walk around the arena. And then Fly had to go. I mean he really had to go and he finally just stretched out and went. That is the first time he has relaxed enough to pee while under saddle! (A very good thing for an endurance horse to be able to do!)