General updates and catch up

I just want to brain dumb a few things so I feel caught up going into this week.

• Odin got his teeth done on Wednesday and that seems to have fully resolved the drooling and quidding.  I didn't get to talk to the vet but my trainer said she thinks it was just a float, and not anything in particular with his baby teeth.  But she isn't sure.  Either way, he is much happier in his mouth.

Here is a random starving dog who just wants some pie

• Which means that there are two things we can now attribute to baby learning behaviors - bit chomping and head tilting.  
• The head tilting is a little strange.  We have one other horse at the barn who does it quite a lot and I am hoping this isn't Odie's future.  Tracking left, he tips his head right at the poll.  So while trotting along with his neck straight, his nose pokes right.  This was worse before the teeth work so I am hoping this is just residual but it also points to some resistance to outside right rein contact.  The trainers are working through this and baby horse is smart, so I am sure this will resolve with time.
• Bit chomping - green horse learning to accept contact so another thing that time will help with, but in the meantime we are playing with his bit.  He has been going in Fawkes' o-ring french link.  Fawkes loved this bit and it works for Odin but we do get a lot of mouth gaping and chomping.  So we are going to see if he likes something else better.  Up first, a big fat eggbutt snaffle.  

  

  And random Jasper catching some sun
• Plateaus and leaps forward.  Odin has progressing well but slowly until Sunday he seemed to take a big step forward.  At least to someone who spends all their time scrutinizing him like my trainers and I.  So more bullet points!


• Resistance to forward.  Resistance might be too strong a word, but he can get a little stuck and cranky about it.  Saturday there was quite a bit of this.  But then Sunday all of a sudden he was like, oh, yeah, forward.  That is cool.  Adding tons of poles has helped with this as it engages his brain.  Every last one of us is sick and tired of being stuck in the indoor so we need all the mental stimulation we can get.
• Speaking of poles, rhythm and lifting feet.  Odin loves poles but also has no problem smacking them on occasion.  Sunday he either made a big connection or just had a really smart day as he was trotting over them out of rhythym and barely touching any of them.
• Left lead transition. All of a sudden we have one!  Trainer R started using poles and cross rails to help and that made a noticeable difference.  Now to build up strength since swapping in back is still a frequent occurrence.
• Jumping.  Not much to note here since we are just getting him into this but damn, does he love to jump.  



OK no surprise there

I will try and get some video because it is fun to see that while he is super green, he has innate talent.  He brings his knees up, uses his neck, and cracks that back.  And while R2 is amazing and keeps him at more reasonable jumping efforts even she has said that he has lots of....um....exuberance.  Just makes me excited for this summer.  

OK, brain dump complete.  Today is my 6 week follow up appointment from surgery, hoping I get cleared to start riding again since I know it will take me awhile to get back into shape.  I need to get on this and play catch up with my awesome horse!