Bush Wacking

Well, it's been what? 4? 6? weeks since I've last ridden this sweet boy?

He was AMAZING. He definitely responds well to the lovey-dovey approach and opened right up to me. Bridling is 80% better with the lovin'.

Right off the hop we decided to hit the bush on the property rather than try to battle the windy road. We locked the rest of the herd up front in our 2 acres of open pasture and found our trusting mounting tree stump just inside the bushline of our 8 acres out back.

Exploring the horse-made trails through the bush is like entering a private world all their own. Of course, watching out for branches above wither height is necessary to ensure rider survival.

Max lead like a champ once I made it clear forward motion at a reasonable pace was expected. He marched down their trails, off their trails and through all kinds of bush. Winding around trees prompted tighter communication as the boy has no idea how to watch out for anything beyond the sides of his barrel (read: KNEES!). Oh, who am I kidding? He's the kind of horse that will "Opps." rub and bump his way through things with only his own fuzzy grey coat to slow him down. It was tricky work and I've got at least one bruise to show for a critical moment's lack of attention.

All in all it a great break from the arena routine and an opportunity to really test him in a trail-like environment with a touch more comfort to him. I was able to snap branches left & right, above his head without him twitching an ear. Decent-sized sapplings were tugged and pulled between his barrel and my leg without a worry. We became somewhat proficient with our back & forth, enabling us to miss almost all of the more substantial trees.

Mostly, I was impressed with his sweet willingness to pick up right where we left off. I love how he just plunks along with whatever plan is put to him. Such a good boy!

Bugs

Been laying pretty low for quite a while. First, the weather. Then some mysterious sinus infection ran through our herd, affecting 4 of 7 horses. The two younsters were hit, of course. Our boy had to be upgraded from pills to shots and finally we see results. He's getting better for the handling, I think. Despite some punk-antics and understandable reaction to the 4 18-guage needles per day, he remains a very well-balanced boy. We really like him and are excited about what kind of horse he's going to be!

Just said hullo to Maximus for the first time in weeks, tonight. He's as sexy and funny as ever. If they could bottle him up, I'd be rich. Of course, I'm disgustingly bias.

Not sure if I'll take him off property this week or wait another, just to be safe. No sense spreading this thing around.

Feet are on the docket soon, too. Going to take some brush-up lessons from my farrier and recharge my batteries. All three look quite good, if long. I hope to never have difficult feet to keep again! In fact, upgrade that to a difficult horse to keep, period, again! I just love our three boys!!