A very blustery day - in which Rusty goes for a ride...

It was a lovely windy fall day today. The clouds scuttled across the sky and coloured leaves blew all around (to the disdain of people who were trying to rake their lawns).

I went out to see Rusty today to take him for a short ride. I wasn't sure how he would do on such a blustery windy day. He isn't spooky by nature, but on a day like this, most horses would jump at the chance to have an excuse to act up.

He was way out in the field when I went to catch him. He often comes to the fence when I call him, but not today. I think he likes his new pasture arrangement! I had to walk out and get him and for a minute I thought he might pull a page out of My Boy's book and give me a bit of a chase. Turns out he didn't feel like running, he just didn't feel like helping me out either... :-)

We rode inside in preparation for our first lesson tomorrow night. I didn't want him to be all jumpy in the arena. Again, I was cautious for nothing - he looked around a bit, but didn't make a move to do anything silly. The wind blew through the arena and we carried on as normal.

I rode for about 3o minutes, doing a little walk, trot and canter. He seemed to want to canter, so I had him canter down the long side and trot the short side. After doing that a few times, he didn't mind just trotting. Silly horse.

He is adjusting really well at the new barn. He is out with three other ponies during the day and in a warm cozy stall at night. That horse is being totally spoiled ! The barn owner said that he is just a total doll and that if she was looking for another horse, she would want one just like him (she runs a small riding school). She is very happy to have us there and is looking forward to teaching us both. She checked his teeth for me (she's a vet), checked his hooves, and watched him move to just confirm that he is sound (which I was sure he was, but nice to have an experienced eye check). She is helping me size him for a blanket (spoiled!) so we can keep him nice and warm.

She even rode him a bit on Friday just to get a feel for him. When she started riding him, he pulled out a few tricks right off the bat. He pinned his ears, tried to cut in off the rail and refused to trot. She just laughed and after a lap around the arena he stopped. It's funny to see his half-hearted little tricks. He doesn't try too many of them with me anymore, so he likes to test a new rider just to see what he can get away with.

She is pretty sure he was started and trained western first because of the way he moves. She also thought that some previous riders had been pretty hard on his mouth. He often moves his head behind the bit out of fear of getting his mouth yanked on. He came from three or so years of kids riding "dressage" on him at a place where they thought getting a horse into a frame meant pulling and see-sawing on the reins - I even saw them do it. I try and ride with very soft hands, so I'm sure we'll get him over that soon.

We have our first lesson tomorrow night and another one Thursday, so I'm sure we will be making lots of progress soon.