I have had Trausti now... what three weeks? Today was the first time that I took him out and had a long two hour session with him and he used the thinking side of his brain the entire time. listening, paying attention, curious, mannerly, in his quiet steady way. Many things he acted spooky toward our first session Karen said he was not really spooky of at home,so it must have been because he felt unsettled. and that was true. because I have one mounting block that is actually a set of fiberglas stairs for a house, and when I led him to it that first session and tried to mount he kept turning to stare upward at me so warily and then step away so nervously i just took him to a normal step stool and he was ok with that. today I led him to the tall mounting block and he didnt even think twice about it. When i bathed and sprayed him the first day he danced a lot. Today he stood quietly with a foot up while I showered him and sprayed him with bug spray. We are going off on a real ride tomorrow so I took him to load him in the trailer for the first time since his long trip and he stepped up in it right away with front feet but then just stood relaxed and sighed like hey, i dont really wanna go anywhere :) but I waited, then led him back out, started over and he got in right away. He wasnt scared inside the trailer. He spooked at nothing. My husband came out in a rant about the well not turning off like its supposed to and Trausti has always been scared of my husband for some reason but this time he just acted like "here comes grouchy" and licked and chewed a little like "please don't eat me for dinner". In the roundpen I sent him around a few times, changed directions, gentle speed, and when I said whoa he stopped and I went and petted him and he was just as relaxed as could be. I rode him and got him in a trot, a canter, and a bunch of easy gaits in between. It was like he can do them all and does them all at various speeds he just picks a gait he likes at that speed and transitions into it. His canter is beautiful, its like taking flight in slow motion. But he did not stay in any gait for long because well, thats how it is in a roundpen really. But it was very cool he was calm and unafraid. calmatose actually. i think he was glad I let him choose the gaits he wanted. He has been very very flinchy if you touch his flanks since he got here but today that was way better too. He let me spray his flanks with water without dancing away at all. and when I rode him and nudged him to go he didnt "jump", he just started out normally. our freakin well is going bad I think. Wont turn itself off! Have to go out and turn it off and on manually. what a drag. My husband is so grouchy I am thinking of just loading Trausti up and sleeping at the trail head. Janice
-- even good horses have bad days sometimes.
