Led Newt to the Oak pasture. We lunged and rode in the arena. He seems to have an inclination to canter on the lunge. Today he maintained a good balanced canter counter clockwise. Going clockwise he would get excited and buck and kick (not malicious). I do not know if it is his hard and soft side or what. I cannot see that it is more difficult clockwise. I’ll watch more carefully. We rode the circle and around the arena. Newt did good. I did not think of trying the loose rein circle like we did the other day. That is probably a sign that it did not feel as good today. Nor did I try cantering after the excitement on the lunge. I am happy with our progress and I can wait until the time is right. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is so appropriate for training. We rode about 100 feet further than the other day on the path around the pasture. Newt did seem more relaxed and I did not feel it necessary to keep him busy navigating a serpentine around grass clumps. When we got near the gate, remembering yesterday, I dismounted in case there was a calf explosion that might spook Newt. And there were about 4 unseen calves laying behind the log pile so it probably was a good idea. The calves kept their place and chewed their cuds. Once through the gate I mounted and rode to the barn. Unbuckling the girth, I noticed one of the billets had broken. They were old billets that looked good until I used them a while. I re-rigged an old western saddle with bucking swells to handle English girths. I will re-do it western style because I might need those swells some day soon. Newt is turning into a nice horse and it would be good to keep my seat if he tests our togetherness.
The ponies are requiring more care these days. Laddie recovered from a founder after I put them in dry lot. I had moved them up to grazing half a day in a grazed pasture. Four or five days ago I started leaving them on pasture all the time. In about 2 days Laddie had sore feet. I have dry lotted them for half day for three days and Laddie is much better tonight. They are sweet ponies and deserve good care. Mara will be here this weekend. They will be thrilled.