It was actually relatively cool on Sunday so I decided to not let the day go to waste and went out to the barn. My plan was to ride Cody. I saddled him up and was going to lead him out past the first gate. And he wouldn't budge. The other horses were hanging out in the paddock and he wasn't going to leave them no matter what. I changed my plan and thought maybe I'd try ponying Kiko in the pasture. Once I got Kiko's halter on and started leading her it was evident her feet were pretty sore. The farrier hasn't been out yet and her feet are looking pretty chewed up. So that plan got thrown out the window. Back to just me and Cody. I mounted up in the paddock and waited. I sat there probably 20 minutes or more, asking Cody to move on out of the paddock. He'd turn around a bit but he wouldn't move forward much. I worked on some escalating degrees of asking him to move on, and he'd move but never very far. I rewarded him for every move he did make by a scratch and then just standing there for a few minutes. Corey actually ended up getting Cody to move a bit, but he'd still never move towards the gate. Finally one of my attempts of escalating my request and escalating my energy, he started trotting and went right through the gate. I jumped off, and pulled his tack as quickly as I could. I'm not sure if the lesson worked or not. I guess we'll see the next time he and I try and go for a ride.
I had nothing but time so I saddled up Corey this time. He wasn't overly eager to leave the herd but I was able to lead him to the gate without a fight. He acted a bit differently than Cody, didn't want to go but was moving all the time. We did a lot of spinning and circling by the gate before we made it down to the second gate. Boy that little Arab has quite a trot. Very tough to sit, luckily he's close to the ground! We somehow made it down to the creek. I decided to stay on the pasture side of the creek and just do a short ride since it was evident Corey didn't really enjoy our ride either. He was wound tight and breathing pretty heavy. We started up the hill back to the barn and he really wanted to go. I aimed him over a branch I usually use as a slow down tactic for my boys, but instead of walking over it like Cody and Axel usually do, he actually jumped it. A full fledged jump! Weee! Of course then he had momentum and was headed up hill so he cantered the rest of the way. Normally I try to not let them run home, but I had lost a stirrup and Corey's trot is so bumpy I didn't want to get bounced off so I just kept the canter. So up the hill we went.
I turned him out and Tom's other son arrived to feed. A little late in the day due to an engagement party the night before. While he fed, I put Beau in the barn to eat and groomed him for a while. Poor guy seems to be moving even slower these days. I actually went out to get him in the pasture because he didn't come up to get hay when the rest of the herd did. On our way back up to the barn he rushed over to the sand and layed down and rolled. It was kind of bizarre, atleast the timing of it. I suppose he felt he was safe from being chased since he was on the lead line and all the other horses were eating.
While Beau was inside eating I brought out the blue tarp one more time. This time Kalani remembered what it was immediately and let me put it all over his back. Kiko wore it on her head for a while but she wasn't overly impressed by that. She stood quietly but had a look on her face that said, "please take this off now."
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