Groomed, worked and rode Magic in the round pen. He did good in the round pen. I work him at a walk and trot in both directions on a lunge line with a cavason. That is what seems to work best with him. I ride him in the round pen at at walk and trot in both directions. We do a few stops from the walk. I ride him some on the rail and some on a circle about 5 feet from the rail. To ride the smaller circle it is necessary to communicate with the reins and leg exactly where I want him to be. It causes both of us to pay attention. Magic, for a green horse, shows good sensitivity to the leg. We rode in the Bull Pen. He showed improvement today. Less inclination to return to the gate. He did shy a little jumping forward just after we turned back toward the gate.
I have ridden 3 OTTB’s in this same pasture at this same stage in their training to become riding horses. All three of them, to different degrees, shy, spook or jump forward just after we turn back towards the gate. Little More got past it. I have not progressed Newt forward in his training from this stage specifically because one shy was particularly violent. I did not know if it was malicious or just lack of confidence for a long time. It was not a jump forward but a spin and then bolt. I have recently seen Newt spook by himself in exactly the same way. It is a relief to me because I now think the original incident was a spook and not malicious behavior. And I would for sure rather get my neck broke by accident than on purpose! He was moving out to the pasture when he spooked by himself. The thing I noticed was that his first move was to lower his center of gravity about a foot by spreading his legs out. He really got low and then spun. It is almost impossible to keep your seat with this type of spook. But it is better than thinking that the specific purpose was to get me off of his back. (All this is speculation on my part. I do not claim that it is knowledge.)
Magic and I did not get to go to the trailer today. Dale Moody, my farrier, drove up just after I got off. We put shoes on Magic and trimmed 6 others. Magic wanted to take his foot back sometimes but seemed to improve as we got to the last shoe. Dale noticed that Magic has three white spots on the inside of his knee on the off front and three more on the inside of his cannon bone on the same leg. He commented that was an indication of a surgical procedure. New Vocations did not provide an information about this and I did not ask. Lisa said he was examined by the vet and diagnosed as sound. She said I could talk to the vet if I wanted to but I did not. I have never seen him take a lame step.
Occasionally when I am leading Magic, he will balk. Not permanently but for a minute he will not move forward. I expect as he learns to trust me he will be more inclined to step forward. If I tap him on the butt it does not induce him to step forward as most horses will, it only seems to increase his resolve not to step forward. I saw that resolve grow in his eyes as the haulers were whipping his heels to induce him to get into my trailer that night in the Saline County Fairgrounds. This is the biggest problem I have seen in Magic. Our situation that night at the fairground may have created the problem. We will get past it in the future, somehow. We have time on our side now and time was against us that night.