Update from Sara:
I rode Baxter in a lesson today. Like Dexter, he doesn’t know much (and is somewhat nervous about whips & crops). But… he’s willing to try and quite fun to ride (big, comfy trot!). He’s not very fit right now (which is understandable considering how wasted he was when he came in!) so we didn’t work very hard (a little walk, trot and canter). I really, really, really like this guy a lot and look forward to working with him more.
This guy definitely is not yet convinced that people are friends. He’s a hard worker but not a snuggly guy. I think that side of him is in there and will eventually shine through.
Update from Jaime:
Sara, I counted three ‘really’s in that sentence…I’m thinking you REALLY like him.
Seriously, you guys looked great today. I wish I wasn’t busy and had a chance to get some pictures and video of the two of you. Next time!
I have also pretty much figured Baxter out. He is a total chicken. When you go into his paddock and he does his grumpy face, swing his butt towards you routine, I got after him and swung the lead rope at him, and he ran away from me with his tail between his legs. Repeated that two more times and quite abruptly his demeanor changed to turning towards me with his ears up…“Ok, ok, I’ll let you catch me! But please don’t swing that rope at me anymore, it scares me!”. He’s obviously been mistreated in his life, but he’s not a mean horse.
However, he’s still a studdy horse, and nothing is going to fix that…he was next to Lexi who was in heat and I caught her with her butt up against the fence and him seriously contemplating mounting her fence or no fence, so I put him next to Calamity. This morning I came out to one board kicked in two pieces…However, while slightly distracted by the other horses in the arena today, he was good under saddle.
