Another beautiful day today.

Today was another one for the record books, but in a good way. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL outside. Warm but not unbearably hot. Yesterday was identical.

After putting in my 6 hour work day at my real job, I went out to the barn to work Gus. We worked outside in the cross-country field and he was really good. Basically, it was a bit of a repeat of last week's lesson. Big figure-8 trot circles, SIs (walk/trot) and nice, loopy 1-loop canter serpentines. We even had a nice hand-gallop at one point.

At the end of about 15 minutes of "work", we went on a little hack around the perimeter of the property. Meaning, we hit the service roads and gravel road. Last time we were on the service road, it was super, duper scary (per Gus, of course) and well, it wasn't pleasant or pretty. Yesterday, it was the opposite. He was much better behaved (last time we were trailing riding with his buddy, Toby) and a lot bolder. Still thought the trees and puddles were going to eat him, but we managed through.

After making it back to the XC field, from the other side, we proceeded to the jump field and trotted/cantered over the poles that were already set out. Again, he was really good. We ended on that note.

Today, it was the same ride. Verbatim. The only exception was that Gus was even better on the service road and gravel road. We even managed to trot a few steps without him thinking he was loosing his mind.

It's hard to take photos while working, but here's a couple.

Gringo was an EXCELLENT boy today. I managed to get out to see him before I went out to see Gus. And wow, has he remembered a lot. I don't think I've worked with Gringo is seriously 3 months, but you wouldn't have known that by watching him go. 

We did pretty remedial work. Walk/Whoa/Walk/Trot/Whoa/Walk/rinse.repeat ad nauseam. He was so very, very good. I think he knew it too. We weren't working in the pasture either, because the other boys were out there (plus the hubby was messing around with the tractor in the same area) so we worked in front of the barn. Despite all the new scenery, Gringo was very well behaved. The couple spooks we had resulted in him stopping and standing in place. A very good response - least compared to what he's done in the past (ie bolt and tear off).

My next step is to add in the saddle again, and see what we have there. Today, while grooming and tacking Gringo up, I did the whole "jump up and down" and "lean on his back" stuff. No reaction, whatsoever. I did get a couple ear flicks, which are good because I know he was paying attention, but no violent reactions. Maybe we're making progress? One can only hope, right?

Anyways, I had a couple "proud momma" moments with Gringo today. Hopefully these small steps forward continue.

Here's a couple pictures of the good boy.

My favorite photo taken today of Gringo.

A VERY good boy.