I think it is bizarre all the weird happenings with Boo this week. Went out this afternoon to ride. He seemed fine when I brought him in from the pasture. Once we were tacked up and in the arena I did the normal ground work that I do with him in order to check out his mood and obedience level. Kind of a test to see where his mind is. We do forehand and haunch turns. We back up, and we do sidepasses. Today was pretty much like most days. So I went down to the mounting block to get on and from the moment I got onto his back he was lit. He didn't want to be anywhere near either short end or anywhere near the outside wall. He was all snorty and blowy and jigging. I immediately started him leg yielding and doing circles. We did all the ground work again only this time from the saddle. Still he didn't want to settle down. After about 7-10 minutes of this I decided that I wasn't willing to get hurt over it, so I got off and hooked him up with his halter and longe line.
We longed for probably 25 minutes and most of it was at the canter. He really worked himself up into a sweat and he still tried to avoid the short ends of the arena. I finally got him obeying voice commands for the walk, trot, and canter, so I put his bridle back on and got back into the saddle. We walked around for about 20 minutes to cool out. Did lots of suppling exercises. He seemed fine then. I have absolutely no idea what his problem was. This has happened a couple of times before, but it has been a long long time. He didn't seem to be sore in his back and his legs and feet seemed fine. Guess he was just out of sorts today or something.
At any rate, he ended up working harder than he would have if he'd just behaved himself. I realize that, but I'm not so sure he does. I have a lot going on this weekend and most likely won't make it out to ride at all. We will see how he does on Monday. If he acts up again and I can't find a reason for it, he'll get the same treatment. Most likely he'll be just fine though. That's what has always happened in the past.
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Huh..well you definately ruled out all the things I would have...was it windy?
ReplyDeleteI have no indoor arena these days, so I do a bit of groundwork, but can not lunge. So a time or two my mare seemed very explosive..but ususally just walking her off and leg yileding gives me the advantage of conection with her again.
Where are you?
KacyK