He lunges really very well on the longer line. Going to the left, he will walk and trot when I say, and he will canter....for several loops....without stopping. I could NOT get him to do this on the shorter line, but on the longer line, he's cantering like it's not a big deal. I can stand almost in one spot now...very little moving. He does like to start cantering with a leap or a buck. I'm working on stopping him when he bucks like that, to teach him that it's not ok.
Going to the right, it's still hard to keep him in a canter for even one complete circle. He was defiant and difficult and I kept him moving, but I had to move quite a bit, chasing him. I have to work on keeping him in a canter for longer.
Riding him -- he really, really needs to be ridden. A lot. I think. He needs to be challenged, to go on new trails and up new hills and really explore Griffith Park. He will walk a bit slower, but he's still very bouncy and unsteady at the trot, and the canter...forget it. However, he will canter up that big hill. I think I will start trying to canter him up the hill, then keep him in a canter as we start to go flat. Next time, I will take him in a canter the whole way up the hill.
He's amazing. It really sucks to have limitations with him -- when I'm on him, people cannot stand on his right side and touch him or he starts throwing little nervous bucks. That's when I decided I had to lunge him. He's jumpy at the rail. If the yard is really busy and he gets nervous he won't leave the yard without throwing a few bucks.
But I still marvel at his capacity to grow, to learn, to calm himself and to come out of his shell. To be happy again, to be vulnerable and ok with it. He's teaching me so much more than I'm teaching him -- things about riding, about myself, about horses and people. About my own capacity to grow and learn, and to improve. I have improved in so many things since I've had him. He always challenges me.
I love my horse.
