Just a pet?

We spent some time out at the barn yesterday afternoon, grooming the boys and just basically hanging out. E took some time to ride Monte bareback - a first for the two of them. She had great fun and really loved how responsive he is. Just a slight shift in her weight or leg pressure and he was moving. She did find that his springy little trot is not so pleasant when riding this way, though.

Curly is becoming rather pushy lately, always bumping into me when I work around him and basically being a brat. He hasn't tried anything too aggressive, and I try to correct his transgressions as quickly as I can, but I don't like the way it's all heading. He is just too darn big and powerful to not be respectful; a disrespectful horse is a dangerous horse.

So this bad behavior (even if it is still minor stuff) got me to thinking about how Curly lives. Basically, he has become a very big pet. No job, no expectations from us. Is this okay?

Initially, I thought sure, why not? I mean, he's got it great with plenty of food, sunshine, space and a herd to hang with. What more could a horse want?

But I'm beginning to reassess those thoughts as he becomes more of a pest over these past few weeks. He is less willing to do even the simple, little things I do actually expect him to do - like standing quietly at the hitching post, picking up his feet nicely to be cleaned, etc.

I think he may need to be reminded more regularly, and in a more physically challenging way, just who is in charge. All this probably requires someone riding him more often than he is now ridden. He just doesn't appear to be one of those animals who can be left to pasture for long periods of time and then brought back out and ridden/handled as if the work had been left off only yesterday.

The question is, though, who will ride him?

Lame boys...

On Friday, E and I went out to the barn to check up on Monte. The swelling in his hind leg was almost invisible, but we decided to not push it with a lesson since he still seemed a little stiff in his movement.

I asked E to pull Curly out for a quick ride instead, with the thought that she could do the next day's lesson on him. But guess who was also lame! With swelling in the same spot, no less! Curly also has quite a bit of tenderness in his mid-back; when we ran our fingers down his spine there were several areas that were painful to him.

So no lesson on Saturday.....which ended up being okay because it rained so much I think we would have had to cancel anyway.

We checked back on the boys on Sunday and Monte was in high spirits with no limping/lameness at all. Curly was still a tiny bit swollen in the hind leg, but seems to be on the mend.