So far so good

Two rides in and I'm still alive, so that's a good start.

Jumps to jump

Theo has taken to stall life surprisingly well.  He goes out after breakfast with all of his friends and he's eager to go out.  The first day he got in trouble for setting off every horse on the property with his antics.  It was a five minute gallop and buck, followed by hours of moseying around and grazing.  He's even made a friend with the jumper pony that is in the neighboring field.

Making a friend

He walked over to join this horse and they set off to graze along the fence together after his Sunday ride.  It was very cute.  On day two, he was excited to go out but didn't manage to cause a riot.  When the weather got icky and there was some rain, he was right at his gate and ready to head back to his stall.  When I showed up he was nomming on his hay in his stall with a total air of chill.  Ummm, who are you and what did you do with my horse?

The king of chill

It's not been all rainbows.  The first day I rode him, he had a melt down on the cross ties when he realized the barn was empty.  Everyone else was in turn out still.  I had to lunge him before I could get on, but then we had a perfectly nice ride.  Second day the horses were already in and he'd seen the indoor so I could get right on.  Unfortunately the rain on the roof of the indoor was tough for him.  He's also getting used to seeing activity out of all the open doors.  He was very distracted and did some silly spooking when dogs went by, a chicken decided to dust bathe, a horse came home in a trailer, etc.  I am also having to take it easy in the fluffy footing since he's not used to it.  I don't want him to hurt himself because he's not used to the soft footing.

So far we've pretty much had the barn to ourselves since a lot of people were away on holiday.  That ends tomorrow.  I'll be riding at prime time and will see what it's like having multiple horses in the ring and possibly a lesson going on.  My friend will be back from her weekend away so we can start hanging out.  Yay!  I'll also try to figure out my new lesson schedule now that I feel like my horse will be rideable.

Dare I say he's being a good boy?  Seems too good to be true.