So he is doing well...fat and sassy. I had a friend come out and help me get him worked, and while he was a nervous wreck at first, by the end of the ride he was relaxed and behaving. We have decided his ideal place is western, and I am going to aim him towards western trail, and dabble of course in the Sport Horse stuff, only we are going to aim for the hunter type because he likes to go a little lower with less pressure.
This week he popped a splint (?) I think, and decided to treat it in a loose fashion by cold hosing daily, and then globbing some liniment on it. So far it seems to be working, and has gotten a ton smaller. Here it is on the day I first noticed it...
So today I went out and it was so beautiful I decided I should do something with Tango, so I took him on a walk and we worked on ground manners (so as not to agitate anything too much). He was a really good boy (compared to what he has been lately) I think it was a mix of the storm last night (he probably stressed a lot of his excess energy right out of himself), a nice sunny warm day, and my mindset when we went out to work. I concentrated on staying calm, and assertive and reacting reasonably to all of his goofiness. I sort of treated him like a horse who is just learning showmanship and that seemed to do the trick.
After we were done with our ground manners session, we cold hosed, smoothed on liniment and I liberally groomed him, re-braided his mane and tail, and fly sprayed him then put his blanket back on and put him out. That's the extent of our fun for the day. I will try to update more often now that my workload has decreased some!
