Catch-Up Post: Moses

Good grief. I'm the worst at this. Again.

I'll do one catch-up post per horse, I suppose. I wish I'd done a better job of writing up each lesson, because Mr. Mo has been up to all kinds of things.

Let's see: we've trotted cross-rails, verticals, and cross-rail oxers. Oh, and one bounce. He's pretty good at all of this, but he wiggles sometimes. Steering isn't perfect. One thing that makes me feel good is that even when Mr. Stripey is trying to run out, I can still get it done. He'll get over that. His shape in the air is sometimes green, but is usually quite nice. M thinks this is an upper-level horse (well, she'd say "an advanced horse," but I still haven't committed to eventing).


Even though I'm not sold on eventing yet, we did have a lot of fun babysitting M on an XC school. I just hand-walked him, but he went right over the ditch, into the water, on and off the bank--all like a pro. After about an hour of leading around, he was plenty quiet, so I lunged him for a minute and hopped on. I just trotted him around the parking area for a few minutes because we had to head out, but he was great. I was thrilled 

As far as his flat work goes, he's making good progress. His trot work is really good now, even though he's still fresh and green sometimes. He still has moments of needing to remember that it's my bridle and I get to put it where I want, but when he yields to the pressure, I can now close my leg and get him on the bit. He's not 100% consistent in the contact all the time, but I've only had him for six weeks. Overall, I'm thrilled with his trot work.

His canter work is coming along. He's getting his leads without TOTAL meltdowns now. We had a bucking/rearing fit in front of my mom one day, and he does buck hard when he gets frustrated, but he bucks in a straight line and moving forward. And, knock on wood, he hasn't done any bucking in a week. If this is his flaw, I can totally live with it. His canter can still be a bit wild. I don't have much control. It's getting quieter as we go, especially to the right (his better direction in general--homeboy hates bending left. I may have created this problem because I can hang on the right rein a bit, but I'm working hard to kick this habit and help him be more even).

Also, today I had the wonderful fortune of learning that Breyer already has a Mo model. So we'll be all set when he's big and famous.

It says "Thoroughbred Horse/Excellent Jumper" RIGHT ON THERE.

So overall, very happy in babyland. If he didn't have some green horse moments, I'd be bored. I can't wait to see where he is in another six weeks!