Roach has had a great final few days here! We spent some time in the arena, where we worked on Stopping, Backing, & Vertical Flexion at the Standstill & Walk. Most of our time was spent out & about riding down the gravel roads, through the pasture, through the creek, & was also exposed to the cattle. He's continued to do great under saddle. He walked right into the creek we had practiced last week, but he was a bit apprehensive about going into the creek at the second location today. But once in, he does great. He will paw from time to time in those new situations, but that's mainly him performing his own little safety check. He treks through the pastures at all gaits with no issue.
He's only had two minor hiccups when being ridden where he got a bit worried & those occurred today. You'll see one in the cattle video (I think WayLynn may have bumped into a hind leg as she was intent on following us while watching the cows), but he quickly comes right back to me & continues on a loose rein.
While Roach is still very much green, he's made great progress from the reactive, hard-to-catch horse he was when he first arrived here. Hopefully, he will grow out of his cinchy-ness as he continues to grow & mature.
While I would be comfortable taking Roach out to Fort Robinson tomorrow, he's not quite ready to go to work moving cattle once he goes home. I would recommend spending time with him on the ground (as I'm sure you will) while also spending some undemanding time in the saddle with him before too much pressure is put on him to do a job. He's got the very basics as far as backing, softening, & stopping with two reins but needs to be built upon & refined. Roach is an incredibly special horse & while he's most definitely not been a walk in the park, it's been exactly the path he's needed to be on. Please keep me updated on him, I would love to follow him as he continues to grow & mature!
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