PROGRESS!!!

What an awesome lesson today! I finally took Mr. Rock Star ("Rocky" - show name "Visions of Fame") over for a lesson. We had a rough start getting on the trailer - I had built in a little extra time into the schedule just in case of that sort of thing, but I was not planning on 45 minutes to get him to load! I finally got his Momma, Sweetie (22yo TB mare) out of the barn and got her on first, and wouldn't you know it, Rocky walked right on after her... *rolling eyes*.... So, I wasn't taking any chances, and since I had two young children who were very impatient by that point in the truck - off we went, both horses on the trailer! Once there, Rocky was excited and hollering a bit, and we put Sweetie in a stall while I started by lunging Rocky in the roundpen. He finally paid attention to me instead of worrying about his mom - she certainly wasn't worried about him - there were plenty of other horses in the barn to keep her attention. We walked, trotted, and cantered both directions in the roundpen - with no kicking out or bucking at all! Yay! Although it took a lot of coaxing to get him to canter all the way around just one time. :) Lazy boy!

Next I hopped on and we went into the ring and walked all the way around. Something to remember here - Rocky has never been to this location before, and it has been about 3 years since he has been off the property for anything besides a vet visit. (That was a great trail ride through cow fields). Before that, his only other trips have been cross-country from VA to OR and OR to TX. And the last time he was at a big "barn" where there was a nice ring, etc., was in OR in 2000. SOOOoooo... it was absolutely amazing how calm he was! He looked around at everything in the ring - the only jump that looked weird to him was the green rolltop. Everything else he totally took in stride and was laid back and calm about. I was amazed! Then we trotted around the ring - and again - he was great! He had the perfect cadence, not excited at all, and circled easily and listened really well. So the next test was - the canter. I had told Kim how I had figured out that Rocky's kicking out was him acting out - not wanting to work. And she rightfully suggested that I probably had let him get away with it by stopping what I was doing and he had learned that if he acted out, we didn't do any work. Therefore, it was important for me to push through it and keep pestering him until he did what I asked - canter. I'll have to say, it was kind of nerve wracking. But I also remembered my trick that I use to get him to trot sometimes by flipping the end of the reins back and forth over his withers - so I tried that - and after some coaxing, it worked! Our first canter was about 10 strides, and then we tried again and got more than that, and finally, ALL THE WAY AROUND THE RING! It is a BIG ring, too! About 200'x250' - huge! And we also went The Other Direction all the way around the ring!!! :) On the correct lead (after a couple of tries)! Oh, I was so proud!

So, since he was being so good, why not trot him over a little crossrail? I have been trotting him over poles on the ground at home no trouble. So we trotted back and forth over a small X probably a dozen times - and Kim raised it up a little about half way through. Rocky even picked up his knees a few times to get over it. I couldn't believe it! All of this progress in just one lesson! FINALLY! Getting him over there, to a big ring, and he was so well behaved and we accomplished so much! Man, it was SO worth the hassle of trailering him over there - and I'm so glad I didn't give up this morning while loading.

For a second, I might consider wishing I had taken him over there sooner, but you know what, I don't think it would have worked out this well. 1) Rocky is in better shape because I have been riding and lunging him regularly for several weeks now and 2) I am in better shape, and riding really well compared to a year ago. I needed to be in better shape to ride Rocky's bigger, suspending strides, and Rocky wouldn't have been willing to do so well if he was out of shape. It all worked out just perfectly today. I am so thankful and so proud!

Most of all, I am reminded of what a smart, awesome horse Rocky is. In a new situation, he was totally well behaved, and he picked up on the canter and jumping so quickly. He was like this when I started him as a 3yo, and then we had that LONG 10-year break over moving and kids and... geepers. I'm so glad we're finally getting going!