Arty hasn't been in an arena for at least 6 years, and probably hasn't been in one before that. So today I trailered him over to my barn to get him used to the indoor & for a ride on decent footing. When we arrived I took him straight into the indoor and free lunged him. He was pretty chill about everything, and so we headed into the barn.
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I had to ride my mare as well, so I decided that I'd do her first so that I could give Arty my full and undivided attention when I rode him. I left him with his hay and some water in the spare stall in the interim, and he settled in nicely.My mare was fantastic, and we ran through everything I'd set out to do in 15 minutes, so I called it quits early since she was being so fantastic. However, I guess that wasn't enough work for her because as I was putting up her stirrups she bolted. After 10 minutes of watching her gallop & buck I left her in the indoor with a set of eyes to make sure she didn't hurt herself, and I went to tack up Arty. Some probably criticize this decision, but I didn't want to reward this attention seeking (because that's exactly what this was) behaviour, so by ignoring it completely and not acknowledging it she can't get her desired results. By entrusting someone else to keep an eye on her I knew she wasn't going to be hurt, so I still feel I made the appropriate decision. She meandered into the barn not long after I brought the pony out, and was fantastic after that.
Back to the pony. So I simultaneously untacked my mare and tacked up the pony, while watching them make weird faces at each other.
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Once in the ring, Arty was a little spooky but good over all. The new setting and scariness of the indoor exacerbated all of his issues, and in a way it kind of felt like we were back to square one again. With some work though, we still managed to have a productive ride.
(Video Coming Soon)
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