Expectations

Thank you all for viewing the previous video and leaving your comments...first video and pics in six months of us riding. He hasn't changed or improved a bit. But I didn't think he would. The only thing different now in our riding is my low expectation. There was a time I thought I could "work it out of him", what ever "it" was. I thought he just needed to strengthen his hindend and do long and low work outs to loosen up his stiff muscles. I started over with him more times than I can count and worked on building him up slowly. I still wonder how far we could have gone in dressage if it hadn't been for "it". He did so well in some areas in spite of "it" and could even achieve some 2nd level dressage movements quite easily. Not too shabby for a very one-sided horse with an obvious problem somewhere. He still prefers to turn and hold his head left. Most of the time when I ask him to turn right with an open and soft hand I'm met with a grab and heavy pull to the left. That's fine. We can go left.

I wonder what he feels? I know sometimes when I throw my back out or my neck gets a kink in it it's not always a "painful" feeling, but a "I can't move that way" feeling.

Like I said before, I LOVE our tacking up time together, when he's not taking off out of the barn to find some grass he can be really sweet and silly.
Kacy, I don't know what that "flub" in his hindend was. He does it often though in a walk, trot or canter and whether he's undersaddle or not. It's like his hindend just gets lost. I wouldn't worry about Wa though, it might just be laziness on her part;-) -thanks for the comment on my leg, I like to think I still do something right!

Lisa, Lester has always been OK with animals underfoot, I'll blog about our past goats soon! All your goats make me miss them.