Moody!

Horses have moods. Aslan wasn't in a good one tonight. He was very fussy and nappy and just not in good spirits. Everything I asked him to do was meh or unenthusiastic; more "no" than"okiedokie!" I wish I could read his mind sometimes. Did someone steal the best piece of hay from you? Is your leg sore? Do you have a headache? Seriously, what kind of 1st world horse problems could he have?

This made riding weird because he would just stop. He has done this to me three times. I get baffled and turn around, "Are you pooping?" Nope. "Ok then why did you stop?" I ask him to go and he does.

I pulled out some cones make trotting in a circle more fun. I also tried to vary what we worked on so that we weren't just running in endless circles - i.e. Lets do some head down or lets do some lateral bending. I think I get so concentrating on an exercise I might be forgetting to reward some tries. This could be making it less fun for him. The circle work is mostly increases and decreases of speed (within the gait and transitions). Going down to walk is harder because he just wants to stop. (Where the hell was that the other day?) So clearly we need to work on this one. I am also going to start putting the cones up for a circle as well as maybe a serpentine in the middle. Might as well work on getting a pretty circle instead of this weird lob sided thing we are doing. Steering is obviously better than it was a month ago and his straight is coming along.

I ended on a good note and when I gave him his mineral, he finished it off. I was kind of worried from the last time with his lesson and not eating all of his mineral mix which he loves. He ate 3/4 of it and didn't want more. That surprised me. Mommy gets all worried that her horse is sick! Nope, just moody.

I also bought him a lovely rain blanket. He isn't clipped so a winter blanket is too much. But the snow is melting and so it is getting very soupy out there. I didn't want to wait until he found a juicy puddle and covered himself in it. So a rain blanket seemed like a great compromise. It looks identical to his winter one, it just doesn't have a lining. (It's like a wind breaker) It will keep him dry and protected from wind, without making him warm. He is shedding like the dickens too, spring is coming!!