2011 – Rock & Roll – 9-13-11 – OUTDOOR ARENA TRAINING

9/13/11: Rock had a really good workout today. We had two 2-inch poles on the ends of the ground rails with two 1-inch rails in the middle. He did hit the rails going through them a few times, but it was probably due to his “clod-hoppers” in front. They do limit his finesse because he is still in the temporary boots that were made for a draft horse and are too wide, but I thought he did very well walking and halting correctly through the pattern. They only seemed to affect his foot placement through the poles. The tumor we removed from Rock’s wither area turned out to be a sebaceous cyst and not a sarcoid. It is healing well and the wart on his chin has dropped off. The edema in his abdomen has also gone away and he is once more moving forward with his health. I did most of this workout without guiding him with my right hand on his lead to see how much responsibility he could take for his own balance and direction. He did excellent and only needed to be guided through a few turns around the cones and to steady him lightly over the rails.