It's getting serious over here

Goggles had his second ride. 

And he was clearly excited about it

Also loving the western pony vibe on him - surprisingly the cheekpieces only have to go down one hole for him from Ben's settings

It has been really freaking hot here (91 for the high that day), and I rode around 2 pm since I saw Ben in the morning and then had evening plans. Also figured a little midday heat wasn't a bad thing for our big, exciting plans.

Honestly the hardest part of the whole thing was getting on. He wanted to back up and examine me on the side of the trailer I was using for mounting rather than stand with the saddle next to me. We worked on that for a few minutes. He then stood rock solid while I actually mounted. 

What a cute view!

Then we walked and turned and halted and turned. And repeated various patterns of that for about ten minutes. He's got really nice soft halts from voice and seat, I love it. He wants to slug along at the walk a bit, and I got tempted into nagging with the leg a few times. Big reminder to myself I'm creating the horse I might be riding for the next 20+ years... Leg off, quiet ask, then light tap tap tap with dressage whip on the bum if there's no response. Only took two repeats of that before he was stepping off well from a light leg. He's really freaking good about the dressage whip. Doesn't over react at all, but he's not dead to it either. 

He bulged a bit back towards the field where the other horses were, but not too badly. They had the courtesy (and hay piles) of staying up towards the front fence so he had good company. 

Then I got off and practiced standing next to me on tall things for a minute or two before I untacked him. 

He's learning to drink from the hose like a good Florida horse 

He's also a good drinker in his stall

In the most exciting news of all, he is now taking more than carrots for treats. He's well on  his way to becoming a spoiled rotten pet of a horse. 

He also got the GOOD BOY(TM) privilege of grazing the good barn yard grass by himself for 45 minutes till Ms. GY let everyone else in to their stalls for dinner

I'm extra enjoying the second horse thing since Ben has been NQR since the start of March. Nice to have the other creature to turn my attention to. Hasn't completely stopped my pity party though because Ben just looks so darn sad. Initially I thought it was foot soreness from sand under his pads at the start of March. But his vet checked him yesterday and found his neck was actually really sore, she thinks from some accident in the pasture. He got that adjusted and is hopefully on the upswing now. Fingers crossed it sticks this go round.