Dirty Bucks

I love how the light shines on the hills

I absolutely love long summer nights. It was 8:15 by the time I had made it to see Monty. I could immediately tell upon mounting up that he was feeling saucy. We kept it simple to warm up, and I focused on some trot work before I attempted the canter. 

Monty was very anxious in our trot work and I should have taken that to not canter, but he really needs to learn that cantering isn't going to kill him. We worked on adjust-ability in the trot and he certainly is game for extension but is pretty sure collection is dumb. He wasn't even in both reins so I did some serpentines. At every change of bend he was pretty sure I was going to ask him to canter and got very nervous. He did work out of it and maintained a calm attitude. 

Cantering left (his weak side) was definitely a shit show. He was bucking and crow hoping and refusing to canter like a normal horse. It's like he forgot where his legs went and was upset that he couldn't get himself together. After half a lap of cantering like a normal horse I transitioned down and let him walk. We went about ten steps on a loose rein before he stopped and threw a buck. Whoa, rude, dude. I gave him a firm talking to about how it wasn't very nice of him and he seemed sort of embarrassed with his behavior. Tracking right it only took two ugly transitions/temper tantrums before I got him in a nice balanced canter. We did a few laps and I was so proud of him! It definitely gives me hope for his left side.

After I got off I ran my hands down his back and put pressure to check for soreness. None at all. He hadn't been out in a few days so I'm thinking he was feeling fresh and had a lot of anxiety. He was a very happy man to get some attention.