Twistin Turbo

When I bought my current horse, he came with the registered name Twistin Turbo.  That name was chosen because it described him on the longe line as a yearling.  When I brought him here as a six year old, he seemed to me to be a handsome laid-back cowboy so I gave him the barn name "Jackson."  In the year and a half that he has been here, he has been Jackson through and through.  He is very calm on the trail.  He is level-headed.  He works very hard.  And he has a heart as big as Wyoming.   On one of our first trail rides, we encountered a very steep hill strewn with boulders.  It required a running start and aggressive launching from point to point to reach the top.  Jackson carefully started up the hill, studying each boulder we encountered.  Half-way up he completely lost momentum.  Did he panic?  Of course not!  He laid down and waited for me to hop off and lead him up to the top.  But he does love to run.  He has thoroughbred blood in his veins and it shows in his "go" button.  This is another thing that makes me grin from ear to ear when we train.  I whisper the cue for canter with my leg, or I think about whispering the cue, and off we go.  
Today, Brett and I went on a trail ride.  I was concerned when we started as Jackson seemed overly careful going down hills and stepping over large logs.  These were things that caused him pain when his hock (rear leg, looks like an elbow) was injured.  This was our first time on the loop trail since his injury so I wasn't sure if it hurt or if he was just remembering and anticipating pain.  On our way back, we decided to try trotting a flat section of the trail.  Brett and Flash were in front.  They started off at a nice trot.  Jackson gave a yee-haw buck and started after them.  What the ???  He bucked??  So we walked for awhile and he seemed to settle.  Although Jackson loves to run, he is also very obedient so I agreed to give it another shot further down the trail.  Brett eased Flash into an easy canter.  Jackson gave a HUGE buck and charged out of the starting gate. We were on Flash's bumper in two strides.  Then with nowhere to go, Jackson started bucking in place.  It was the oddest thing.
I iced his hock and put him in the pasture when we got home.  He seemed to be very pleased with himself.  Twistin Turbo is alive and well.