Cole's First Lesson!

It looks like I complained so much yesterday that today was great. I was one of two for sound ponies, which is much better than zero of two. And since Cole was sound, and I'd been meaning to get some help with him, and Julie was around/not busy, we had our first official lesson.

Cole was AMAZING. Both of us have been out of the game for a while, so we both thought the lesson was pretty hard work. But other than that, Cole was a pretty willing guy and was happy to work. There were a few baby bucks, and one or two times that he kicked out, but we all know I secretly love broncos, and I certainly don't remember Riley being this easy when he was green. (Riley has thankfully grown up, and is a pleasure to ride on the flat now- but he did used to be a nightmare!) Cole thought that bending left, and especially cantering and bending left at the same time were very hard, but he still gave it a try if I insisted that he do it. When he did what I asked and I rode correctly, he was a dream to ride (and moves like a big time horse!). Overall, he was a pleasure to ride :).

A very angry Riley.

As for Riley, he got the day off because the vet is coming tomorrow and I didn't want to aggravate anything if his back is bugging him as much as he said it was last night. He did however get dressed back up in his muzzle (which he had tried to ditch in the field last night), plus a halter over top to try and make it a little harder to undress himself. He's still whining miserably about it all, coughing every minute to try and guilt me into taking it off. Little does he know that if he keeps this whining up, it just means he'll be getting a "Easy Breathe Muzzle," and not complete freedom. Welcome to fat camp, Riley. I'm sure John's hiding carrots and peppermints in the hollowed out fence posts, but I'm doing my best since you think that Perkisizing exercising is overrated.