Less than three

I love it when I go out to get my horse and I know, from the moment I see his little nose and see him walk toward me, that we're going to have a good time.   :)

Tonight was one of those nights.  It was snowing but not freezing -- above 20! WOOHOO! -- and I got to the barn a bit early (left work early to miss the chaotic traffic that I knew was coming).   Apollo came out of the pasture in a good mood, didn't really mind one of the other horses screaming his head off in a stall, and didn't really mind that the indoor waterers were being worked on.

I popped him on the longe line for a bit, just to see what I had to work with, and I was very pleased!  He wasn't tense, stretched, and generally was his usual cooperative self.  Hallelujah!   Didn't bother with side reins this time, and I hopped into the saddle fairly quickly.

For the past few days, Apollo's been rather squirrelly about the mirrors -- frosted up mirrors hide horse eating demons, of course.   I'd noticed that he doesn't care about the mirrors when I longe him, and I thought "of course he doesn't care on the longe line; he's convinced you're in charge on the longe, and you get nervous in the saddle when you think he's going to spook."   So I didn't do that.   And neither did he.   :)   To be fair, he was also much less up today.  Not sure if it's the cold or the fact that he's been ridden more, but either way, I'll take it.

So yeah.  WTC both ways, contact, forward, et cetera.  Happy campers!   I heart my horse.   (Apparently I can't use the less than character without escaping it, and I don't feel like looking up the unicode for it.  Imagine a little heart there.)