In a Mood

I would say that about 98% of the time, TC comes out really enthused about doing his job. This is one of the things I love about this horse, he loves to work. He screams at me when I come into the barn, stares at me through the whole tacking up process, gets visibly agitated if I take too long, tries to drag me to the mounting block... and he loves his walks around in the field, but when it's time for the arena, he marches right over.

But that other 2% does happen on occasion, and it totally happened on Monday morning.

Mostly in the mood for walking around

I got to the barn and he was happy to see me, but in the cross ties seemed less enthusiastic. Didn't mind me taking my time, didn't drag me over to the mounting block. When I got on, he marched away from the arena.

When we were out in the field, he was nice and relaxed, but any time we'd face the arena, he'd speed up in a different direction. He wanted to go walk around the pasture, he wanted to walk past the arena gate to go to the other side of the property, he wanted to walk back to the barn versus going into the arena.

Part of it was for sure that the guys were feeding late. Normally I ride before they feed, but I have been riding at 6:30. By the time he's back in his stall, they start feeding. This time it was 8 and no one had fed yet. I think that bothered him a bit too.

But he doesn't seem to mind it earlier. He just wasn't in the mood to work.

Always in the mood for attention though

I think that it's because he had two pretty long rides on Friday and Saturday, then did his trail ride on Sunday. I wouldn't think that Sunday would have made him sore, but it was more hill climbing than he's done in a long time, since we don't have anything more than mounds at home, and my last barn was also very flat. I probably should have planned on giving him Monday off.

Because this happens so rarely, we just did a nice short stretchy ride in the arena before I put him away. If he was sore, it's good for him to stretch, if he was thinking he could get out of work (unlikely), it shows him that he can't.

I don't mind giving him the benefit of the doubt. If this continues for more than a day (it didn't) or if it became something that happens frequently (it isn't), I'd totally make changes or start brainstorming. I think he was just tired, sore, and not having it. I totally understand his plight.