Les came to the house to measure some things needing repairs. I asked him to hold the lunge line for me & Ransom when he was ready.
Ransom had other plans. He let me know he had too much time off, taking off at canter in warmup at every opportunity. He pulled on the line a few times as well. Not enough to frighten me, well, not at first. I decided to take him to the round pen, let him work it out. Les said to me, "Can I try to lunge him?" I said, "Sure, but I've been doing this for a few years, and I don't think I'm doing it wrong." He got mad, I got mad... it just wasn't pretty.
Off to the round pen we go. Ransom cantered and cantered, and cantered and cantered, and, got himself all sweaty & annoyed. I tried direction changes, I tried standing very still.... Finally I left him go as fast as he chose, and when he tried to relax, I pushed a little more.
I crawled on, did a little walk & trot, but by then, I was frightened. I wouldn't say "terrified oh my he's going to take off & kill me", but tense enough that Ransom felt it. His head was up, his back was hollow.. Just ugly.
When I dismounted, I took him over to the paddock & tied him to the fence. He stood there, very still, and finally looked apologetic. Les and I stayed mad... more at each other than at Ransom. He finished what needed measuring, and headed out.
I walked back to Ransom, awful confused. This was the first time we had a "bad day". I'd given him time off before, but I guess not that much on our new feed diet. He was in all-out running mode, and I had never seen him "go bonkers" until today. Frightening....
Trying to convince myself he was just not in the right mood, I unsaddled, walked him to the trailer, and still found him with this "I'm sorry" look in his eye, eye-lids wrinkling, head down, obeying my every ground leading command. I gave him his first bath under my care, and he stood very calmly. While he dried out, I walked him across the road to some grassy spots. At first, he stood & looked at me, not eating. He did finally get the point, and relaxed & munched grass...
So, my first "Bad Ransom Day" wasn't entirely horrid, but just not pretty, either. I had high hopes of cantering him on the lunge today, and instead, he got all the work, and I just got confused.
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