Good boy/Dumb boy

Tuesday, River was... interesting?  He was being a little spooky for some reason.  Maybe because I hadn't ridden him in almost a week...  I had a high cavaletti on one side of the ring and a crossrail on the other side.  He was a good boy over it.  We were circling at the far end of the ring to the right when he randomly started spooking.  I almost stayed on, but ended up falling.  My poor thumb got really  hurt in my attempts to stay on :(.  But I got back on and Riv was a good boy for the remaining two minutes of our ride.

Wednesday we got very brave.  I put up a line, high cavaletti (15" or so) to a crossrail.  Yeah, we're getting advanced!  Started off going to the left, cavaletti to crossrail, and he was SO GOOD.  Like, a total saintly champ for me.  So I'm petting him and praising him and telling him how wonderful he is.  Are you guessing where this is going?  So then we switched to the right.

Trot up to the crossrail.  He hops right over it.

Approach the cavaletti.  Slow down... walk up to it... look uncertain.  I kept him aimed at it and gave him a kick, because it's plenty small enough for him to step over it.

He picks up his left front and steps over it.

Hesitates.

Tries to pull the foot back.

Foot gets stuck on cavaletti.

River tries harder to pull back.  Starts dragging cavaletti.  River gets scared, tries to back away, but OMG this thing is chasing me!

In his haste to get away, River falls over with me in the saddle.  I rolled clear, he got up, and no harm done.

I put the cavaletti back and got on.  Trot around the ring, and as we trot past the cavaletti, he's getting scared of it.  So I jump off, put the cavaletti as low as it goes, and hand walk him over it repeatedly until he does it without hesitating.  Get back on, ride him over it a million times, and he finally relaxes and does it more or less normally.

And now we're going to a show!  Ugh.

Wednesday I rode him in ear puffies for the first time.  I'm not sure if it made a difference, but they made me feel better.. and when I took them out, he was suddenly very alert, so apparently they do block his hearing.

Stylin' in pink.

Ear puffies installed.  You can see the removal string.  I think of them as ear tampons...

Awww!  Even when he's been dumb, he's cute!

Oh, also Wednesday...  The horse I found dead?  The vet came out to remove her heart to send it for testing.  I asked the owner and she allowed me to take legs.  So I, uh, have two cadaver legs in my freezer (I didn't feel right taking all four).  When the weather warms up, I'll dissect them for my hoof trimming education.