We Pushed...

...and he was cranky about it.
I could tell when I got there last night that he was in a little bit of a mood. As I was bringing him in, they were a little late at the barn and he hadn't been brought in yet for dinner. I have mentioned before that my horse is the slowest eating horse on the face of the planet and because I was late myself yesterday - it was pushing 7:30 when I got there - I figured I would let him eat after we had worked. As I was bringing him in, rather then putting him into his stall, it was right into the cross ties for the Pickle...I think he was a little surprised at that. His tack up, was also pretty quick....he sensed that...no doubt. He is the sort of horse that lies to be fussed over, detail oriented, take your time, tell me I am wonderful, scratch my face, scratch my withers, scratch my butt, okay, now put my saddle on, scratch my face again etc. Well we skipped the in btween part last night and went right to the saddle part. When you put the lack of dinner and lack of QT together, I think he was pissed...especially because I wasn't there on Monday night. I told you he was quirky right?
So once I convinced him that ring work is fun (it is a losing battle for about 5 minutes) we got down to it...I did ask for more engagement - TONS of walk-trot-walk-trot transitions, some more bending - some 20m circles - and some cantering...he is a little more stiff to the left then he is to the right...which makes sense because he is more sore in his left stifle....although he was cranky about it, I MADE him push on...and we did it!! :-) I am VERY proud of the pickle for allowing me to ask (well, somewhat force) him to take the next baby step - although a big one - in his recovery. He was quite cranky about it, I did notice some tail swishing and some not happy ears, but his mouth was frothy, s that leads me to believe he got over it....after a good 20 minutes....
Tonight - because the weather is dismal, we will be in the ring again...I might even go so far as to try and set up a canter pole or two depending on how he is feeling. I am going to ask for more engagement again and really ask him to bend and come up under himself. Let's hope he is feeling better and he gets dinner before I get there!!
Hummm - I wonder if it was because I made him wait to eat until after he had worked. Horses are funny creatures - I guess I will never know.