Weekend Update

...no, not the Saturday Night Live version....
This weekend was monumental in my eyes...simply because 'heeeee'sssss baaaaaccckkkkk'!!! :-)
The Pickle was in fine form over the weekend. Saturday's school was surprisingly cool, calm and collected...until our hack at the end of it when he decided he was determined to see my ass hit the dirt. It felt like I was riding a tightly coiled spring that was that < > far from erupting. I felt like he was saying "ooooo, loooook, it's a TREE, I am scared of those. "oooooo, loooook it's a ROCK, I'm scared of those', ooooooo, looook, it's a riding lawnmower, I'm DEFINITELY TERRIFIED of those...' He was in fine form. We cantered for the first time in 3 weeks...and he was a little surprised by the canter aid, and he threw his head up a little bit, but after a stride or two, he completely settled. A couple rounds of cantering was all I wanted in both directions and it was super nice...this horse is a rocking chair. I realized that although very fit, it'll take a little bit for him to get it back as he was puffing a little at the end of our 4 minutes of canter work. He even was snorting a little while we were cantering...which he never does...and his mouth gets more and more foamy each time we ride. Sunday, we jumped!!! And when I say jump, I mean, a tiny xrail and vertical that couldn't have been more then 2'3 and no more then 4 times...but, we jumped none the less. Annnnnd, he was quite excited to do so....trotting up to them, he was fine and cantered away quietly, but in canter...he was excited to say the least...so I reverted to the days of old and pulled him up in front of the fence, made him stand there quietly for a couple seconds, backed him up 4 steps, quietly turned him around and repeat....3 times...then popped him over that scary gate once and called it a ride...
I spent a lot of extra time this weekend fussing over him....REALLY putting the elbow grease to work and making him the centre of attention. (For a horse who was clipped and heavily blanketed over the winter, I have absolutely ZERO idea where the hell all this hair is coming from. It is really friggin annoying. AND, it gets EVERYWHERE...in my eyes, up my nose, in my hair...it sucks...the things I do for this horse.) Trying to tell him that I know he hasn't been feeling the best, but that I still love him and will do everything I can to make him feel better again. On Sunday, he was standing in the crossties, neck stretched out, ears floppy and eyes half shut...
It's good to have the Pickle back.