Update

Hello! It’s been a while since my last post and I wanted to let everyone know how Mad for Smarty is coming along. We have been trotting regularly and he is doing well so far. After trotting for a few moments he will sometimes kinda fall apart, rush and drag himself around on the forehand (especially while I’m in two-point) but never horribly. He has never tried to run off, bolt, rush into a canter, grab the bit or buck. I’d consider that a success so far! Smarty is more comfortable traveling to the left and is able to carry himself correctly and stay in a nice, rounded circle more easily. We are still working on the right side!

I’ve been riding primarily in a dressage arena and an open trail area trotting in both places. There are a few places with mild slope on the trails, which I’ve been taking Smarty up and down to try and develop his top line a bit more. had planned to start cantering him this week, but it has been very rainy here and I have not been able to work with him as of yet.

A couple weeks ago I rode Smarty bareback for the first time. I enjoyed it, but I’m not so sure that he did! Smarty seemed a bit thrown off by my lack of saddle and was a bit reluctant to go forward. Overall, he was fine with it with no explosions or strong objection.