Excellent Ride

Brett and I rode this morning before the vet was due to arrive with needles, vaccines, and other fun stuff.  One of the things I have as homework from my last lesson is to keep Jackson in front of my leg.  He is naturally sensitive and I need to encourage that trait so once he is soft, I ask him to go forward.  If there isn't a response,  I tap him.  I only need a light tap with Jackson.  Soooo nice.  We did our warm-up on the buckle going around the block on the bridle trails.  We worked on forward.  Instead of our usual walk of one. two. three. four., I had a very nice 1-2-3-4 walk.  He was perfect except for the three spooks - from the usually unflappable Jackson.  The first spook was at a parked car.  Maybe because it was in a driveway instead of inside the gate?  The second spook was when two pit bulls charged their fence, barking.  Totally justified.  The third was at three mourning doves who flew up from the other side of the road, in plain view.  Stupid spook!  Once in the arena, I had very good work from my boy.  He continued to be nicely in front of my leg.  He was soft and round for the trot work while keeping the forward energy.  His transitions into left lead canter were along the lines of buck and charge -- but he got the correct lead.  We'll get there.  I'm feeling VERY optimistic today.

Who, me?

The vet arrived around noon.  All the horses received their shots and she did a ulcer test (fecal blood) on Jackson.  It came back negative.  She suggested that I do daily fecal checks on Jackson for 8 days so we can get a feel for his parasite rhythm.  She suspects that he has a sensitive stomach and is more bothered by worms than the average equine.  She said she had been trying to figure out why I was finding any parasites since we muck twice a day and the pasture is dry.  She figured it must be the donkeys.  They typically carry a heavier load than horses and commonly tote around tapeworms.  Ewwww.