Spirited Away

Finally had some time out to the barn today to play with the boys!
Took a couple of quick videos as I start my attempts in video blogging our sessions together.

In a follow up to yesterday's blog, Spirit is a LBE! And his left brain dominance usually drives me totally bonkers. But today he was a sweet angel. I haven't been able to give him as much attention as I would like this past winter from bad scheduling to bad weather. But he was very much on the ball today, even with the rain and wind storm outside. I have a very good feeling about him, and our progress together keeps me positive. Though he suffers from severe chronic rude ears... He's coming along and is trusting me more and more every session.
Our first few sessions together I had to have my coach in to save me, as I wasn't sure how to deal with his fear aggression at the time. He would violently strike out, rear and buck at you if you asked him to do anything he didn't want from you. And his super fast feet made him even more unmanageable because he would get away from you so fast. But Lindsey knew just how to handle it, and after a couple of sessions to get him to understand that aggressive behaviour was not tolerated, he came around quickly. He's spent almost a year with us now, and is a happy little band member in a group of geldings and brother to my two thoroughbreds. I've only ridden him twice so far, mostly due to lack of time, but also due to lack of confidence in him. He has these scary moments when he pins those ears and throws his head... I like to make sure all of that attitude is dealt with on the ground, before making any kind of progress towards riding. Every little bit can be handled on the ground to make sure every second in the saddle is positive! His past for being ridden isn't too positive unfortunately he was allowed to get away with dangerous herd bound behaviour and managed to buck his past owners off more than a few times. So now I want to make sure every second in the saddle is happy, positive, and not a single buck could be had.
So here's a quick video from our play session today. I don't usually play at liberty for the whole session, but because of the loud weather outside, I opted to keep him at a distance... But as you'll see, we really clicked today and I trusted him to come in close and play follow me right along my shoulder. This was a first for us, as he is usually too rude to get too close to. So proud of him! And I have to admit, I have finally fallen head over heels for his cuteness.


As always, much love!