Has There Been a Cuter LBI?

Of course, everyone feels this way about their LBI, right? I walked to the turnout knowing Maverick was who I was going to play with, and when I called his name, he lifted his head with ears at attention, turned and ambled my way. 

He nuzzled up to me, asking politely for a cookie, which, of course, I delivered promptly. Although I brought a halter with me, I knew I wouldn't need it, so I started walking to the barn slowly, and Maverick followed calmly behind me. 

I knew this was going to be a really good day when Maverick stood calmly for me to groom him and put some fly spray on him. Usually, he gets antsy when I groom him, but today he really seemed to enjoy it. 

We are still waiting for our new Natural Performer saddle, and I no longer feel comfortable riding him in the Jeffries saddle, as it is too small for him now. In fact, when I called about the saddle Friday, they told me it would be another month, which will make our total wait time almost four months. They must be inspecting every stitch under a high powered microscope. 

So today was bareback day. Last time I tried bareback, Maverick was pretty unbalanced, but I was hopeful today would be better. 

We started on the ground, playing stick to me from zone 3. I thought that if we did the weave from zone 3, it would help when I needed Maverick to maintain direction, either on the rail or on the circle. And it really worked today. He did the weave really nicely at the walk and trot, so we quit there. My hamstrings felt much better today, which I think made our weave better too. It felt like a small breakthrough. If I need to curse someone I don't like much, wishing them a hamstring injury would make a good choice. ;-)

We played with the backup. I was looking for Mav to really put some effort into it. When he made a slightly bigger effort, we quit. Tomorrow will be even better... Next, I asked for him to get up on the pedestal from 22 ft. with four feet. Again, he can do two, but not four. I got a bit closer, maybe 12 feet, then he could do it. Tomorrow will be even better...


I wanted to see how he felt about cantering to the right. So, I asked for the left canter first on the circle game, and he did that very well, just a little head shake to start, no dolphin swim move, no bucking. Nice. Went to a change of direction at the trot, then I asked for the right canter. All I got was a fast trot. OK, slow down, regroup, ask again. 

This time we got the canter, but Maverick was cross-firing. Transitioned down again, asked up again, cross-fired again. Transitioned down, and I blew a big breath out, thinking rhythmic and relaxed. Asked for the right lead again, and yes! He got it. Not only that, he did a half circle of really relaxed and rhythmic strides. I transitioned him down, brought him in and fed him cookies. HE blew out a big breath. Perfect, moving on...

Now it was time to ride. It is great to have lost the 23 lbs., but never more helpful than when hopping up on a sixteen hand horse bareback, even with a small mounting block. Maverick was rock solid while I put my leg over. I thought about the first time we saddled him, and he wandered off with a foot in the stirrup. Not anymore! He volunteered to bend for cookies, first on the right, then left. Cute, very cute. 


We moved off to the question box to do circles. My plan was to help him bend better to the left, his harder side, so I started with right circles. We did four circles around the question box, each one better than the last. So we moved on to the left circles. Again, each circle, though not as good as the right circles, was better than the last. At one point, Mav almost cantered, but I am not quite ready for that bareback with him, so I slowed my body down to keep him at the trot. We stopped in the question box, backed up a couple of steps, then I fed him cookies. 


Then we did alternating circles through the question box, two on each side, and we quit in the questions box after backing up a couple of steps. 


Mav surprised me today with all the energy he brought to our play session. His willingness did not surprise me at all. He always wants to please, energy or no energy. So trusting. Our hopeful horse. 


As a special reward, I took Mav across the street to the park to graze on grass for about a half hour. The last time we did that resulted in my forehead being split open and lots of bleeding, with Mav making a mad dash back for the barn. But I knew today would be a totally different day...