Wild Hoodlum!!

 I love him so! He just cracks me up. He hasn't been worked in quite some time, so I decided to take him to Ashland with Fleck and me for fun. I've been gone for a week and I didn't do much before I left, so he's had some time off for sure. He loaded up like a gentleman and we hauled to Ashland. I groomed them both and then tied them both up while I rode a friends mare. Halfway through my ride on the mare we look over and Dan is grazing a good 15 feet from the trailer. I guess he untied himself. But we decided to carry on as he didn't look like he was going anywhere. And he didn't! 

After I rode the mare, I got him and lunged him. And wow.. did he need to let off some steam! So, I know they shouldn't "play" on the lunge line... but then where are they supposed to let their steam off? He was bucking and cantering and carrying on like a fool. Sheesh! I'm in for a wild ride. But then he settled down and was a good boy. He was pretty responsive to the walk and trot and halt voice and boy commands. And he even picked up the canter command each direction too. Yay! 

Then I worked on some in hand triangle stuff. Holy cow can that boy trot!! His stride is miles long and I can barely keep up. And I don't think he's even trying. But, he actually stayed with me and we even managed one or two turns maintaining the trot. Yay! I still can't decide if I'll run him or let one of the pros do it. 

Then I went back to the trailer and tacked up Fleck. Dan had worked pretty hard so I thought he might be tired enough to pony, especially if we used the bit and bridle. And he was a good boy. No shenanigans really. Plus I figured Fleck would have a fit if we left Danny. We started off and Fleck was full of it so we ended up trotting.. and then cantering. It was fun. I got them reined back in, though I will admit to not trying to hard for a little bit. Then we headed to the lake as it was really looking like it was going to rain hard soon. Dan went for another swim. I had my phone but just had too much going on to try to get pictures. But Dan was swimming swimming! Not just playing in the water. :) So then we headed back out on the trail and they behaved. Danny got a snarky snake face from Fleck every time he got past his shoulder but they were good. Then we hit the open field again and I let them canter again. It was fun! It was like being on the carousel. Dan was in the up phase when Fleck was in the down phase. Quite neat! I wish I had a helmet cam! And then.. Fleck decided to kick the snot out of Dan. He nailed out three times and poor Dan bailed. I let him. I got Fleck reined in and then checked Dan. He was holding his right hind up and had a bit of blood on his cannon bone. But I think the reason he was holding it up was that his hoof wall had flaked up a good bit. I'm sure it was like stubbing your toe. The cut was more of a scrape... like from a pricker bush. And within 20 seconds he was sound on it. I think it just stung. So I got back on and we walked off. WALKED off! Then I heard the firecrackers! The big scary pppppppfffffffffffftttt boom kind! They were far enough away and only noise so while the horses were intriquied they didn't mind. I decided to head back in and call it a day. Dan stood tied to the trailer while I tried to do a bit more with Fleck. I quickly gave up as he was too obsessed with where Danny was. Sigh.. But Danny was good. They both got housed off and then loaded up nicely.

Another fun day! I'm so excited about Danny. He's going to be fun if I can hang on for the ride!