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Worked and rode Newt in the round pen. I tried another saddle and swapped the bit for a halter. It seemed like the halter pressure bothered him more that the bit. So it is probably not the bit that makes him shake his head. I could not tell if the saddle was an improvement or not. It was fun. We will keep working on it.

I groomed, trimmed, worked and rode Newt in the round pen. They were kicking up their heels this fine cool fall morning. Newt is very good at the ground work, stands untied for grooming, generously gives his head when I pull the rein and moves his hind end over if I just look at his back feet. But when I am on his back I feel it really tests his resolve to be nice and kind to humans. (Oops, I just talked myself into a new saddle!) Lots of turns to keep his attention off me on his back. He never shakes his head except when I am on his back. Once, when contemplating human communication gestures, I thought it was probably arbitrary that yes was a nod and no was a shake of the head. As I learn more about horses, I know horses taught us that a shake of the head meant there is some serious disagreement. Newt did shake his head some this morning but we had a successful ride. I plan to keep at it with little short rides in the round pen until I see a whole lot less shaking goin’ on.

I trimmed Newt today. I trimmed Laddie yesterday. His hooves were in very bad condition. He was so sore footed earlier that I would have had to trim him laying down. It is all better now. Newt’s feet are in pretty good shape as I trimmed him about 6 weeks ago. Newt will stand in the hallway for grooming and trimming. He likes the attention. I worked and rode him in the round pen. This is the first time I have ridden him in a year. I thought I was taking a chance riding him in the arena and oak pasture last year. It is a long way from the barn and, although I rode him for several weeks in that situation, I did not feel that the trust was increasing. For the past few months I have been haltering and leading him to the barn when they came in for feeding. It is not everyday but probably at least every other day. I feel that this attention has improved the trust and decided to try riding him again. Recently I have been leading him to pasture and leaving him alone when I came back to the barn for Magic. The first time he acted like the world was ending, yelling bloody murder and running flat out. But no harm and he is getting better at being alone (for a minute or two). He will have to learn to trust a lot more before I can ride him away from the barn very far. Speed (cantering) seems to heighten his anxiety, so we will restrict cantering to the round pen and lunge line unmounted until things get better. We rode at a walk today changing directions often to keep his mind occupied. He showed some irritation from the slight contact of the reins by shaking his head. He was a good boy and let me stay on his back. We made maybe three rounds on each rein and ended on a good note. Different attitudes for different horses. Magic cocks his hind leg whenever the brush touches his back but is very trustworthy under saddle. Newt acts like he would stand untied in the hallway all day for grooming but I’ll swear his back feet were ten feet in the air this morning when a horsefly sat on his back.