The best brain

I could probably title every post about Odin similarly and I bet it will show up again if it hasn't already.  But he continues to impress everyone around him, especially in this so far craptastic winter.

Not much has changed since my last post 3 weeks ago.  Jon got sick over Christmas, then I got sick, the weather tanked some more, and last night when it was warmer, the winds got up to 90mph.  Take a pill, CO, we are already sick of this.

from warmer times

I did decide to put him training through the end of March so if there happens to be good weather during the day, he will get worked, but it is definitely inconsistent at the moment.  Last week he basically spent the whole time wrapped up in all his blankets like the kid in a Christmas Story.  And yet while some of the other horses went basically feral and were giant irritations to handle, Odin remained polite on his lead.

Which doesn't mean he isn't feeling the weather.  In turn out, he is definitely, uh, exuberant, and he has had plenty of lunging and carefully managed rides.  But it seems pretty clear to me that his brain has come a long way since when he is feeling pretty bouncy he restrains himself to squeals and minor dolphining, and has never taken it any farther. We listen to him so maybe something would happen if we didn't, but I really appreciate his early warning system.

We jumped a little bit yesterday and while he was cracking his back over the cross rail (ow saddle cantle hitting me in the butt), he never got overly excited or did anything but lope off quietly after the fence.  Hooray for an excellent brain and careful training!

My trainer has been very complimentary of my riding too, which is a surprise to me given how I am barely riding more than once a week.  Who knew this was the key to my riding successs?  Sigh.

And one of my good friends is adding some lessons in on him after having to unexpectedly retire her horse.  She says he is fabulous and, well, I tend to agree.

So mostly quiet times but with the best TB around.