Addressing the capriole

Three days since I stopped giving Garbo the Fibre Ezy which is a supposedly non heating chaff in the form of a chopped haylage I suppose.



Garbo trying to put on Maraschino's bridle too.

We warmed up online and there was nothing untoward. I got on in the arena and there was a horse there being tormented by a girl - the horse was terrified  - goodness knows how they got it in the trailer to get the horse there but it took her a good 30 minutes to be able to get on - and Maraschino (not Garbo unusually) got quite upset about the fact that the lady was using her whip to make the horse stand still  - without success I might add. Then she proceeded to attempt to risk life and limb and ride this terrified tip toeing horse around the track.

Anyway - Garbo didn't seem phased and we managed to trot with no drama so after 15 minutes or so we rode in the track - again with no drama. I checked in with him alot to see what he was thinking but I was worrying over nothing he was as good as gold.


Maraschino's slightly worried look.

The scared horse finally got back to the float but of course it took a long while to load him - in the end they backed the float up to the stable door and loaded him from there somehow. He was trying to kick his way out of the float as they drove away. Maraschino was very pleased to see the end of that lady with all the angry energy. He was still really good and although he spooked a couple of times in the track he only jumped slightly and then went forward and stopped.

2nd ride in a bridle - pretty impressed of calm he was.
Garbo was my Garbo again rather than the caprioling stunt horse from last week. Phew.

Another trip to the track

Wow what a gorgeous day it was today. I headed out early before it got too hot - taking advantage of the fine days and the holidays!

We arrived by 9am and were ready to ride by 9.30am. Michelle was there with Flipper and she suggested she pony Maraschino while I rode Garbo around the track.

The track has a great surface on it so it's super for tender feet (they were just trimmed yesterday) and with Garbo collecting abbesses this year - it's a great way to get his fitness up again now they seem to all have finally burst out.

So we spent most of the time walking and trotting. On the first lap Garbo charged out ahead and he went into trot without me asking him so I applied what Linda said at the Clinic in November (which isn't always easy for me) and encouraged him forward. He soon came back to walk :-)

During a trot lap where Flipper and Maraschino were ahead of us, Garbo went into canter and I just allowed it and while I didn't go so far as encouraging it, I didn't do my normal panic and think he was going to run off. Michelle looked around at one point and said "oh you're cantering"! YES.

It actually felt really good.
We cantered a few more times too. His squeaky belly relaxed after about 3 laps.

Tori helped me decide on my new mantra.
Garbo is not the same horse anymore, you can trust him, he won't hurt you. 
I love it.