Arrivals and Departures
Gideon arrived in one piece on Sunday! He settled in in about 5 minutes and all was well. I think the barn staff are relieved to have a horse that doesn't scream and fuss about every.single.little.thing. but I've mostly just gotten a lot of "He's my new favorite!"s from many people.
Riding wise, he is very, very different than the Royal Pain. His trot is Huge, and sometimes not entirely under control. He gets distracted, but is a lot easier to reroute mentally that Ro ever was. His canter began as a plane departure and we took flight around the ring for a short while on Monday during our first ride, but it's already improved significantly. Nothing like a couple hundred transitions, collections, and extensions to get that 2 ton weight off my arms! I was left with the promise that his left lead was unridable, and that they (the people who have been "working" with him) have been riding him in a western gag bit of some design that no one will send me a picture of. A "WHOW" bit, but my google-fu revealed nothing, so I am left to cringe at the possibilities of the barbed wire that was being used in my horse's mouth.
In the mean time, I've been riding him in the gold loose ring french link that Royal so despised. Gideon is somewhat heavy but certainly not unrideable. As I said, its already gotten fantastically better. He was Wild and Feral on thursday, so we rode for a half hour, took of my tack and chased him for another half hour, and then rode again for another 45 minutes or so. That wasn't the best of all rides, but the ride the next day sure was! He needs his Coggins before he can get turned out, but I think its going to make a world of difference.
Royal has had 2 pictures posted on the New Vocations facebook, but nothing on the web page about being up for adoption yet, so they must be working with him still. Hopefully they will have better luck than me, I suppose. I miss him a lot, despite the many good reasons to let him go. More than once I've caught myself calling Gideon "ro". Lucky for me I can reassure myself that Royal has the attention span of a fruit fly so if he ever misses me for a moment, that moment will pass quickly and some thing scary like a strong breeze will take his mind off his misery.
In other, nonhorse related news, I quit my job at the barn and am trying to work full time at the old person home. I've already been proposed to with a man's own wedding ring with the promise of 30 cents, and lifted a 300 pound man into bed with no assistance. I thank the horses for that particular power.
Riding wise, he is very, very different than the Royal Pain. His trot is Huge, and sometimes not entirely under control. He gets distracted, but is a lot easier to reroute mentally that Ro ever was. His canter began as a plane departure and we took flight around the ring for a short while on Monday during our first ride, but it's already improved significantly. Nothing like a couple hundred transitions, collections, and extensions to get that 2 ton weight off my arms! I was left with the promise that his left lead was unridable, and that they (the people who have been "working" with him) have been riding him in a western gag bit of some design that no one will send me a picture of. A "WHOW" bit, but my google-fu revealed nothing, so I am left to cringe at the possibilities of the barbed wire that was being used in my horse's mouth.
In the mean time, I've been riding him in the gold loose ring french link that Royal so despised. Gideon is somewhat heavy but certainly not unrideable. As I said, its already gotten fantastically better. He was Wild and Feral on thursday, so we rode for a half hour, took of my tack and chased him for another half hour, and then rode again for another 45 minutes or so. That wasn't the best of all rides, but the ride the next day sure was! He needs his Coggins before he can get turned out, but I think its going to make a world of difference.
Royal has had 2 pictures posted on the New Vocations facebook, but nothing on the web page about being up for adoption yet, so they must be working with him still. Hopefully they will have better luck than me, I suppose. I miss him a lot, despite the many good reasons to let him go. More than once I've caught myself calling Gideon "ro". Lucky for me I can reassure myself that Royal has the attention span of a fruit fly so if he ever misses me for a moment, that moment will pass quickly and some thing scary like a strong breeze will take his mind off his misery.
In other, nonhorse related news, I quit my job at the barn and am trying to work full time at the old person home. I've already been proposed to with a man's own wedding ring with the promise of 30 cents, and lifted a 300 pound man into bed with no assistance. I thank the horses for that particular power.