60 Seconds

I visited Pippin at Mr. Country Cowboy's place. We were both going for a ride. I saddled Pippin, and while I waited for MCC to get his horse ready, I became fascinated with Pippin's constant movement. ADHD to the max! I thought it might be interesting to make series of time-lapse photos:

00:00:00

00:00:10

00:00:20

00:00:30

00:00:40

00:00:50

00:01:00

Now to be fair to Pippin I do have to confess that in a later sequence of photos there was just about a minute where he stayed more or less in place. And, in the later sequence there wasn't a predator lurking in the shadows of the tree, or a predator jauntily passing by!

So, what other excuses could I come up with for my horse?

• It is a cool, brisk morning
• Pippin just come out of his stall
• The wind is gusty
• The trailer is in a new spot
• The flies are bad
• The rope halter is pulled up near his eyes (to keep him from rubbing it off)

Do you make excuses for your horse?

Following these pictures I worked with Pippin on the ground and then climbed on for a 'supervised' ride. I like the way MCC invites the owner out for a few rides about a week before the training period is to end. He feels this way he still has a few days to work on sticky spots, or if issues remain the training contract can be extended.
Pippin didn't do any of his former scooting. He is very light and responsive to legs and reins. He is the antithesis of Doc. He jumped a bit at the canter. MCC asked me what I had done to cause it. The first time I have to admit I was tense and came forward while at the same time leaning on the reins, and possible digging my heels in his sides. The second time I had no clue. Up until the little hop things had been going nicely. I remained in a nice position and had given Pippin plenty of rein, and Pippin had settled into a fairly evenly paced canter. MCC wasn't sure why he hopped either. So, he got on and got the same reaction. He was puzzled, looked around and then saw the saddle strings! Evidently the strings weren't an issue until we cantered. Then, they flopped down and 'slapped' Pippin's sides so he jumped a bit. MCC shrugged and explained that since this is Pippin's new saddle, he'll just have to get used to them! MCC loped him around a bit more. Then I climbed back on and we cooled him out with a short trail ride around his neighborhood.