I've been riding Nox every other day for two weeks now, although we missed a few days because of crazy thunderstorms and rain, but I've discovered that Nox simply will not walk calmly. He won't walk on a lead, and he won't walk under saddle. I tack him up and as soon as I swing into the saddle, he is ready to go! Just asking him to walk a few steps gets him so excited that he jumps around and tries to trot. It's ending up a constant battle of wills! As soon as I ask him to stand still though, he relaxes and his perfectly happy to stand and watch the outside world around him. If I ask for a walk, he jumps around and has nearly launched me off his back twice.
So! Once again, I can't fight him and win, so I need to outsmart him. The past two rides, we've done a start/stop method: I make him stand calmly until he is fully relaxed, and then ask for two or three steps, and then stop him again just before I feel his muscles tense and he jumps. Once he's relaxed, we start again. It takes us a full ten minutes to get around the ring once, but he hasn't jumped or misbehaved since we started this, so I think we're back on the right track. It will take us a little more time in the recovery phase, but we're not in any hurry. It's just nice to sit on my own horse!
I also gave Nox access to his smaller outdoor paddock. Penny and I didn't think he was ready for the large paddock, because we don't want him running around yet. Even in the small paddock, he managed to get a little rowdy. Here is video of him as soon as we opened the paddock door:
Once he got that outburst out of his system, he was fine! Now he just enjoys the sunshine with his new bunny friend.
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| Chillin' outside. |
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| A domesticated but free roaming bunny hangs out with Nox - she likes his hay and grain. |
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| They are just too cute together. |
