Parents day!

Today the parents came to NY to visit! Mither and sibling and Dither got to meet Holden for the first time -- as well as meet the BO and BM. The barn was spotless and Holden looked to be enjoying his time in the paddock. Mither assessed Holden's "thickness" in his ankle and thinks it may be an old osselet. We trotted Holden out for Mither to see, and she also brought some much needed stuff for Holden - some brushes, spare blankets, lunging equipment, and my saddle. Thanks Mom!!

After lunch with the parents they drove back home ( :'( ) and I went back to the barn to play with the pony! 

Are you a race-horse or a school-horse?!

Since we've been doing some extremely light work, I decided today would be a day to try some more trotting. I want to keep his sessions light and the lunging a little limited, but I also want to give him enough time to get used to ground-cues and contact with the bit.  We started off walking in both directions around the ring with the side-reins double-clipped to the surcingle, so he could get used to the "banging" around the surcingle. Holden took this all very well, and seemed absolutely un-phased by the new "equipment". We worked on "aand whoa" cues and "walk on" before graduating to a small lunge circle. I clipped the side-reins to his bit, keeping the length of the side-reins on the last buckle so that they were loose and had no action. We did some walk/trot in both directions - I definitely need to work on teaching him "out"/"over" -- he was great to the left but wanted to fall in to the right. Saying "out/over" didn't necessarily warrant much response, but if I moved towards him and gestured slightly with the whip he would move over but also speed up or get a little worried -- which is not something I want him to associate with either command.

Holden to the right.

After a few minutes of lunging predominately at the walk, I pulled him in and adjusted the side-reins a tiny bit, so they were still loose but had a little action. He took this fabulously -- immediately after the slight adjustment he put himself in a "frame" - I couldn't believe how well he took the slight adjustment. We then walked and trotted a little in both directions with the new adjustment -- working again on the "aaaand whoa" and "TROT" commands. He is great at the transition up, but needs a little more polishing with transitioning down. Tomorrow I think I will take some time to work on "over/out" with him. He has already demonstrated that he is very level, and I think once he understands these commands his lunging will be super. He does grind his teeth with the side-reins attached -- I am wondering if his bit is a little too small for him -- it fit my last horse and Holden is much bigger. I also think it wouldn't hurt to check his mouth and see if he needs attention from a dentist -- but at the moment, Holden is very reluctant to let me look in his mouth and he shies away from you if you touch his nose. This is likely a residual feeling from the track, and I am hoping in the next few days he will feel comfortable enough with me to let me lift up his lips and check his teeth for hooks or if his wolf teeth are coming in. Mike may come with me to the barn tomorrow, and if he does I am going to see if I can con him into helping me check Holden's mouth.

In summation, I was really surprised with Holden today - he really seems to be a good egg, and definitely takes everything in stride.