I rode a very nice horse this morning, Magical Minister. We have had lots of company and family for the last week. It has been 10 days since I last rode him. It was a very nice ride. We rode in the Ash pasture, the arena, the Oak pasture and up on Shirey Mountain. I think we are making progress with bending by doing serpentines with about 8 meter radius. It was very windy. I had some firewood logs recently cut and stored in the pasture. There was a branch with leaves sticking up about 6 feet. So there was something strange, out of place and it was moving in the wind. Magic stopped and looked at it. This is the most spook I have seen in him. We just waited a moment and looked at it. Then we walked past it and turned around and came back by it again. He quit paying attention to it the second time we went past. Magic is not spooky but I think the last experience we had on the trail, in the wind, by ourselves might have increased his attention to spooks. And he spooked forward just a little when we were in the windy woods today and York came up behind us quickly. I think it is important in training to plan for success and avoid problems as much as possible. In the past I thought if a problem came up the best thing to do was to confront it and solve it immediately. I don’t know specifically what changed my attitude. I am older and I don’t bounce when I hit the ground like I did in the 60’s. As a general rule, I ride greener horses now. And I’ve gravitated towards hot blooded horses. I’ve probable explained it. Anyway, I had a nice ride this morning. I’m lucky to have a good horse like Magic. We cantered a little on the trail where leads do not matter.
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