Another gray stallion

I've been asked (again) to look after a gray stallion. Not Pressing this time but a 5 year-old Arabian-cross called The Kairo (stable name Ben). It is a totally different horse, not like Pressing in any way. He is more confident and a bit less sensitive to pressure. I'm going to play with him on-line for few days and maybe I'll get on him if I find him rideable.

Joanna and Ben

Today we've started the 7 games and I must say all went well, except bucking up. That was Ben's Achilles' heel. I did expect that, he is a stallion and I knew he wouldn't jump at the idea of me asking him to go backwards. I've spent quite some time at the round-corral trying to show him an open door if he backed a little, and by "little" I mean shift his weight back. From there we've made a quick progress and soon he was backing-up at phase 1 and 2. On the other hand I was amazed how light he was at porcupine game right from the beginning. I like this horses spirit and I think we will get along fine, I was a bit worried at first as I did hear quite a few horror stories about him.

Juliano on the other hand surprised me today. After I've finished with Ben I took Juliano back to his stall and noticed a long cut on his hind leg. After I've cleaned the wound J would kick out cause it was itching him, but when I went out the stable he would stop. I came back few minutes later and he started kicking again. I've noticed lately that if he gets hurt or gets into trouble he has to share that with me and starts acting like a little baby foal. Hmmmm, how interesting?

We than went for a quick ride into the woods with Magda. We expected an impulsive ride as we don't ride much this summer due to the weather. Of Course we were wrong. Boys were happy, relaxed and maintaining a rhythmic medium trot. There was no need to slow them down or correct them. Juliano was in the lead and he chose a path with a lot of branches on the ground. Every time we went that way before he would try to avoid what was in his way but this time he would slow down a bit to have a better look and go over obstacles. Does this mean J likes jumping now? I'm not getting my hopes up but who knows... maybe, just maybe his attitude towards jumping had changed. He certainly started looking where he is going which is great.