No updates, might ride next week, whomst knows. The swelling has gone down significantly and he's off all bute yay.

Oh my gosh his tongue xD

That tongue haha! Also the horse behind him kinda makes him look like one of his legs is super buff

Rode! He was really really good, cranky about the saddle (I'm going to up his magnesium) but once it was on he was happy, he self bridled, and then because we're having a cold front and he was a little tense and wild, I put him in the roundpen for a bit and decided not to get on until he'd stretched in both directions and had taken a deep breath and relaxed, which took about ten minutes. Considering it's been awhile since he's worked, not too bad, and when I got on he was good. Fought me a bit about putting his head down and getting soft on the bit, and threw a few tantrums, but once we worked through that he realized what I was asking felt better, he was happy to reach for the bit and lengthen and lower his neck and stretch out his back, and we ended on a really nice forward relaxed stretchy walk on the buckle. ♡

SUPER emotional right now. Cliff had his first jump today and he was so good. It was just a teeny little vertical, maybe a foot high, and we were trotting around trotting around and I just turned him towards it and kept my leg on. A few strides out he realized what was happening and put his ears forward, but he didn't rush or flip his head or anything. We got to the base, he jumped up, landed in a canter and we did a few strides before I stopped him in a straight line, and he just halted immediately, put his head down and took a deep breath and immediately relaxed. I was going to do 2 or 3 jumps, but that first one was so perfect and I'm so thrilled that he relaxed that I just dropped the reins and walked him out. So so happy right now.

Also: peeled!

Whoops long time no update. Cliff's been good! Lots of flatwork last week, but then Weather happened so I haven't ridden him since Wednesday. He's round penned a few times, and was very very good.

He made me proud today. I lunged him in the pessoa system, and he worked hard, so I was unhooking him when a horse got loose and started tearing around the arena. Cliff bounced a bit and wanted to join in, but I just told him no and he calmed down immediately and was super good and patient while I dragged him around to catch the horse. Even when I was holding him and the loose horse together, he listened very well, though I could tell he so badly wanted to zoom around and be stupid. Super proud of him.

Tomorrow, we ride!

i didnt even realize he wasnt just extremely buff till i saw this lmao

Today was interesting. I started last week hacking Cliff around the farm before we went in the ring for real work, to get him over different terrains. He's been a little clumsy lately and I'm hoping that different terrains will help him reorient his feet and balance, though of course if the behavior continues we'll have to test for EPM, because that would be just my luck. Anyways.

Once we got in the ring, I put the bungee on him, just to keep his head steady for the ride. He was fairly good, we did a lot of trotting, and cantering left was fine, but cantering right he did NOT want to engage his right hind leg and he kept yanking his head down and pulling me out of position, and it was just super annoying. Everytime I put my right leg on him he'd speed up and yank down again, and it wasn't very productive, but then the left hook on the bungee came undone because of his yanking, which left just the right side hooked.

So I grabbed the left side, and boom. Draw rein. Check and mate, Cliff. Used that leverage to keep him packaged, put my right leg on, and he was a little mutinous for a bit but then settled and we had a really nice collected right lead for a bit. I'm still kinda laughing about how that all worked out, honestly. But he cooled off fine and got a nice little bath and dinner and carrot stretches. Tomorrow will be a lighter day, because he really did work hard today. I'm also looking into getting a permit to take him and Pogo to the beach, because it's really the best thing for fitness riding. The county website is a little confusing, so I'll probably end up calling tomorrow to find out more.

Cliff: coffee!

Me: not yours!

Cliff: but it smells like peppermint

Me: no

Cliff: YES