Red turned 12 on Thursday, so I'm only a couple of days late. I've had him for just over two years, and the changes in him have been dramatic. I thought when I got him that he had the potential to be a fine horse, and he's turned out to be a great one - it took a fair amount of work to get here but it's certainly been worth it. He's still very alert at all times and interested in his surroundings, but he worries a lot less and settles down to work readily despite almost any level of distractions. He's got a lot of try, which is something I highly value in a horse. Our past two rides illustrate how great he is. Yesterday, we were riding by ourselves in the indoor - the doors were open - while horses were screaming and galloping in the adjacent pasture in full view - a new horse was being introduced to the pasture, but her buddy was inside in a stall. Red was on his toes and well aware of what was going on, but he settled right into his work. Today we did a lot of core-to-core, ending with some turns at the trot - circles, serpentines, loops, you name it, using direction from my focus and core alone - no use of reins or my legs. It was splendid.
So, in honor of Red, a few favorite pictures.
Here he is playing the "stick game" - he tries to get the other horses to play without much success, and will sometimes carry sticks all the way from the back of the pasture to the gate.
He's certainly turned into quite the hunk - that's Pie in the background:
He's always friendly and curious - I think his star looks a bit like South America:
This picture is probably the best match to his true color - his mane is lighter and his tail is darker:
That's my Red!
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