Forward Is Good.. Progress Is Better!

"Where's my soup?"

Today was another uneventful day at the barn. I truly wish I had some insightful and interesting things to blabber about here, but luckily for me my days remain inordinately orthodox.

No nicker from Holden when I opened the barn doors today. However, he was standing very patiently at the stall door awaiting his Platinum Porridge -- and I managed to sneak in a few paparazzi moments which he was not very thrilled with.

I gave him half his soup and groomed him - he still has some grimy scurf on his one leg - the RF, and it was attacked with some anti-fungal spray and curry-comb. Holden was not pleased. His hind legs, both of them, were cold and tight today. Our tack up routine went without a hitch, and today I elected to introduce the side-reins while ground-driving. 

One may remember from prior posts (before the vet visits) that Holden was already introduced to loose side-reins, and acted a model citizen. Today was no exception. The side-reins were on the loosest hole but I'm afraid he either remembered their function or the weight of them encouraged him to "carry a frame" (not that he KNOWS what that is yet!) - our initial hand-walk around the ring with them clipped was done with mincing and slow steps. One could tell practically hear the quizzical gears in his head coiling.

"But why is the porridge gone?!"

I encouraged him to walk at the pace he normally walks - he has a naturally ambling gait; at at first he was reluctant to move out. I suspect the weight of the side-reins plays a part - Holden is fairly sensitive to pressure and I imagine he may have felt this was a conflicting aid. Since the goal here is to spice up our hand-walking routine (while still keeping the workload minimal) I did not adjust or tighten the side-reins. They were kept on the loosest hole through-out the walk session.

Our allotted ten minutes of walking was up in almost no time, so I spent some time in the middle of the ring with him standing while I unclipped the long-lines and pulled them around him. Again, working on getting him to not be alarmed when he felt he was "tangled" in the lines. 

He had a brief blip where he backed up (another thing we are working on - Holden likes to back up to face me, especially if I am at his flank. I think this has something to do with the treats in my pocket.. ). Anyway, Holden tried to back up to face me while I was at the girth -- and we had a small hiccup when he met the taut line of the long-line around his haunch. At first he startled from a stand; but after I pet him he relaxed. Wasn't much of a hiccup, I'm afraid.

Anyway, I spent some time playing with my camera in his stall today. He was very curious about the camera, but after a few flashes detonated near his precious eyes he lost interest and resumed munching his hay. Tomorrow, I am hoping for a real paparazzi session where I can actually get pictures that are not at an awkward armslength angle!