I'm stunned, I'm shook, I'm amazed ...

I cannot believe I am writing this - but Vero IMPRESSED me this blog period. That should be it, that should be the whole blog "Vero was a GOOD BOY" and scene .. but I'll elaborate I GUESS.

Let's start from the boring beginning -

I may want to body slam Vero, but I'm not a monster - so as promised, we had our vet out Monday and he was VERY pleased with how Vero flexed & moved - got the OK for him to stay barefoot (for now) and the OK to keep moving forward in our workouts (yass). This is the same vet who originally got Vero back to health when he was starved - so he was also VERY pleased with his weight & muscle tone (OTTB on a forage first diet say whaaat?! 😉) So with the green light for GO -

And you'll never guess what this little shit did -- he made a FOOL out of me .. by having a great week (aside from throwing my saddle into a a pile of his own shit) .. are you KIDDING ME VERO? This nice weather must have him feeling generous, because minimal sassing, no bolting, minimal heathen activities this vlog . I'm questioning his motives, but I thought to myself "this was a fluke, no big DEAL I'll ignore it"

We went on a NICE, calm, amazing trail ride with John & Heff .. and although he did bite her ass once or twice .. he was a doll. This proves my point I like to mention to folks at least once a week, and was mentioned in my original post about Vero - PUT YOUR BUTT IN THE SADDLE OF YOUR OTTB. IDC if he's an absolute glue stick, RIDE THEM. Don't get me wrong, week was brought to you in part by LOTS of ground work, come to Jesus moments, and some absolute bitch fits - but the other part was I rode him. 1 day a week on the ground & 3 days a week in the saddle, we are doing SOMETHING. This past ride - for example - was circles.

Raise your hand if you've been personally victimized by a perfect circle. Yeah, that's what I thought. If you've restarted an OTTB before, you probably know how daunting and time consuming circles can be .. well that is exactly what we worked on .. circles. Circles to the left, to the right, making them bigger - making them smaller, around a barrel or in the open arena - AT THE WALK (exciting things, right?) but i promise this is what's going to make your horse BROKE come October. Work on the small things, the annoying and grueling things, the circles the bending, the stopping, moving off your leg, all of it. WERK on it and a better horse is in your future.

FINALLY i must tell you all, this did NOT make it into the Vlog because I was done editing that and uploading it by the time Friday rolled around -- but I took Vero to a lesson at my hunter barn. He started off on edge and anxious with all of the horses in the arena and I thought for sure my end would be in the (thankfully soft) sand at his feet .. but gurly pop we held it together and it was NOT in vein because at the end of the flatting lesson he JUMPED. He picked up his feet and was the CUTEST jumper EVER. SO brave, actually jumped anything I asked him to, pushed off with both legs and tucked both knees like HELLO?! I'll add a cute little snippet video here of him popping over a cross rail and some small fences -

Alright I'm done yappin for now, it's daylight savings time and I'm tricked into thinking i'm wide awake, but really I should be in bed. So remember the lessons of today - Put your ass in the saddle, work on the little things, and Vero isn't so bad after all...