Magic and I rode this morning. We did no lunge or cavaletti work this morning. We went straight to the arena. He did seem more fidgety, less relaxed. I have never considered it necessary to take the “edge off” with lunge work with Magic but I need to notice if there is any correlation. James Brady came on his motor scooter to look at the Shirey pasture option while Magic and I were in the arena. We stopped our work and rode over to talk with James. Somebody came by the other day to talk, same situation, just a truck rather than a motor scooter. Magic did not like talking to them. He got fidgety, backing up, doing everything but standing still. When we went back to work he was less focused and impatient. He did good anyway. No cantering today. We rode up and around on Shirey mountain. York jumped a turkey that flew over us. It made enough noise that I noticed it. Magic paid it very little attention although it does seem like he noticed the turkey. It was a good ride.
Magic has a half brother, Fund the Minister, same sire, that was also adopted from New Vocations. The owner(s) also have a wordpress blog. There was a post today about Minister’s progress with his new trainer, Erica. Minister sometimes does not have perfect initial reactions to a new situation. It was nice to read that the trainer accepted the less than perfect initial reactions and had arranged the training session in a way that Minister’s reluctance was not a problem, not a failure. The next session, Minister had very good attitude and performance. A good example to follow. The link is Fund The Minister .