Newt: February 2

I hope you got to enjoy the sunshine & warmer temps this week! I know we sure did here!

This week, Newt had a big win! He only had what I'll call half of a moment. I felt his hind end get a little fast, but he was able to regulate himself without getting tense & worked up. This week, we just stayed up on the place riding around. We've been doing a lot at the walk with a little bit of trotting thrown in. A lot of redirection & softening. He's really understanding stopping & backing. We continue to work on Vertical Flexion. This week, he wanted to test that out a bit & see if he could pull back, similar to how he was on the ground in the halter to start with. Almost like one of those who will pick a fight at recess over a toy, no matter what it is, but once the other kid drops it to go find something else to play with, he goes, well, that's no fun anymore. His mind is slowly maturing & getting out of that 'what can I find to jump at' phase. I caught a video of Newt & Hickory playing on Wednesday. It's been nice to see that as things are getting warmer & the snow is melting. Newt is usually the instigator, but I wasn't quick enough with the video to catch a lot of Newt's antics.

Next week, pending how much rain we receive this weekend, we'll continue riding around the place. If he's consistently doing well, we'll go ahead & venture down the lane & to the gravel roads if he shows that he's ready.

- Lexy Nuesch

---

 Next week's update will be posted on Friday.