As we attempted to brush the mud off of Curly yesterday afternoon, he was a bundle of nerves. He was surprised when E. led him past the gate to the pasture and towards the front of the barn; it has been months since he has been in that area. Q, on the other hand, calmly stood there munching on any grass he could reach.
E.'s ride went better than I had anticipated. I was afraid that he would attempt to bolt, but for the most part he attended to her signals. His training has definitely back-slid, however. He was tossing his head and generally acting like the horse he had been during the mid-summer. The only stomach-clenching moment was when he decided that the dirt in the arena looked like a wonderful rolling spot and he started to buckle all his legs and go down, with E. on his back! She kicked him back up and forward before he got there but it did frighten her a bit.
E. spent most of the hour walking him; she didn't want to push his feet too much. He appeared to be in no pain and moved smoothly the whole hour. After the ride she said that when she asked for his trot, he moved into it immediately and it was way too fast. I reminded her that perhaps she had just gotten used to the plodding motions of old Q! She agreed, saying that Curly's energy made her a little nervous during the lesson. (Hmmmm, sounds like something I said when I tried riding him!).
But she was extremely happy to have ridden her horse....and can't wait to go out again!
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