Better with Friends

When I got out to the barn on Tuesday night, there was another person out there for once. Finally!

We tacked up our horses and headed over to the arena. Cisco actually was the big, brave boy for once - the other horse is not a fan of the automatic overhead door into the arena. Proud mommy moment when he stood rock still in front of the opening door.

I threw him on the lunge line before riding. No sense tempting fate in trying to get by without lunging a second time in a row. We went straight down to the scary end. And it was probably the first time that he wasn't cranking his head to the outside as he passed the scary end. I'm hoping that it's because he's getting used to that end, but it's probably because there was another horse in the arena for once. He stayed on a much bigger circle, was much more relaxed, and listened quite nicely. So I didn't do too much on the lunge.

We walked on down to the other end to do a bit of groundwork before getting on. And then a huge distraction entered the arena. Cisco and Phantom's buddy, Ned.

They have been in a different turnout for the last couple of months from Ned, so Cisco was a bit excited to be in his presence. So back to groundwork we went. We gave them a short opportunity to sniff noses, and that seemed to help Cisco settle. They got split up when Cisco tried to start a game of bitey-face.

Cisco isn't the smallest horse on the property!

He was much more settled right off the bat than he had been the last two rides. No trotting until I asked for it, and much less fussy. With the other horses in the arena, he was much more relaxed, which meant that he was not as forward either, but not what I would call sucking back.

He had a major splat spook at one point - we were trotting down the long side, and Pony Grandma was sitting in the bleachers. She moved her arm to scratch her nose and Cisco slammed on the brakes and got a foot shorter in front. I cussed, but didn't really lose my position. But I felt my back go crunch, so I knew I was going to feel it later on. I was stiff by the time I drove home.

The other thing I did a bit of work on was parking. I haven't ridden Cisco too often with other horses in the arena, so haven't had much chance to park and then walk away from the other horse. We only parked for a minute or two, and he was very good about walking away. I did this a couple of times and decided that was a good night's ride.

I finally found the charger for the video camera, so I promise some proper video in the next short period!