A Cunning Plan Which Cannot Fail

And anyone who gets the title is awesome.

I flexed out 2 hours of OT yesterday and spent the afternoon with the ponies.  It was really a glorious day.  Peanut got a good grooming which he really seemed to enjoy.  He enjoyed it so much, if you catch my drift, that I was inspired to clean his sheath.  I did.  He did not enjoy that as much.

I hopped on and rode for just a wee bit.  After the incredibly fun hike we had last weekend, I wanted to see what was left in his head.  I rode just a short way into the park as well, and everything was good.

Of note:

• He was fabulous for saddling.  Before, he would see it and retreat to the end of his lead.  After that, he would continue to do his best to evade.  This time, he didn't even shift his weight once during the entire process and was dropped the entire time.  Maybe he was just showing off how it was squeaky clean.. who knows.

• He is now incredibly sensitive to leg cues.  Turns are a combo of seat and legs, as are halts.  He is immediate with his seat halts now - really just a slight squeeze with the upper legs combined with a tightened core will stop him beautifully (or sometimes just thinking about stopping will stop him - I must release some other cue).  In fact, when I did cue with the reins he seemed to be irritated about it.

• The bridle does seem to irritate him.  It's always been very itchy and he continues to keep scratching at it.  Yesterday was no exception and it was only on him for a short while.

I had a thought today: Peanut is so comfortable in a halter and not so in a bridle.  Riding him in a regular halter means that he just grazes and then puts me on ignore.  I also need something for when I lose his attention to something else and need to bring him back to me - or he just has an attitude.  So, riding bridle-less is not an option.  I have a "dress" halter for him that's not as wide and floppy as a regular halter, so perhaps I would be able to keep his nose out of the grass....

I think that tomorrow I will try riding him in the halter with reins clipped to the sides.  And what else does this mean?

I can ride into the park, decide to get down, clip the reins at the bottom of the halter and I DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT FIGURING OUT HOW TO CARRY IN A HALTER AND LEAD!

Here's hoping.  If I don't update for a while, it will probably mean I'm in traction.

In other news: during Richard's Kyudo lesson today I shot my bow.  I am really loving this bow and figuring it out.  Twice, I had 4 arrows in the bulls-eye and 2 outside of it (I shoot in groups of six because... ummm... my arrows came in a six-pack).  I have concluded I have 2 defective arrows.  ;)