Today was IWHBA's Summer Training Series - Bomb proofing course. After I was done working with people who had brought their horses I decided to take Hercules out in the course and see how he would do. We have spent a lot of time bonding with each other and today it paid off. He was willing to follow me through and over just about everything I asked him to initially. There were a few things that we had to work at a little bit but as you can see by the time we were done he was doing the obstacles like a pro.

Today I decided it was time to see how Hercules did with a bit. He has been giving to the halter really well and was ready to progress. I also put a surcingle on the big guy so I could use some side reins to start getting some flexion going. He is still a little touchy with his ears but took the bridle very well other than that.













I also thought that I would see how he did with me jumping around him. He would get nervous but did allow me to jump up and briefly lean on him. Then I just did some more work with his ears.

Hercules got the weekend off due to me being out of town at an adoption. When I got back in with him on Monday you would never have known he had any time off. He picked his lessons right back up. We spent the week just reinforcing everything. I didn't want to put to much strain on his legs with the weird angles on his fronts so just spent a lot of time working on putting his head down and allowing me to touch him all over his body. I also took him out in the yard for his first trip outside the pens. He was nervous at first but soon found the green grass under his feet and settled right down.
Today my farrier was able to make it over and give Hercules his first "official" trim. He was able to change his front angles by 4 degrees and said his backs were fine.
Hercules had taken up the habit of whenever I came into his pen of going to his water trough and putting his front hooves in the water. I think he was trying to tell me his legs were bothering him.
I also introduced Hercules to fly spray as with this unseasonably hot weather we have been having the flies are coming out in force. He jumped around a little but soon settled down when he realized it really wasn't hurting him.
This guy is so logical and picks up things so quickly. I have really began to fall for this guy and we are forming quite the bond. He may just have to come back home with me after this competition as I am not sure I will be able to let him go.

Today I was late getting home from work and since we had extra volunteers show up to work horses at the IWHBA Learning Center my wife decided to introduce Hercules to a new person that he hadn't met before. Pat's task with Hercules was just to groom him as that is something that I haven't really worked on yet. As you can see once Hercules was able to check out the grooming tools he was more than happy to show Pat where he would like to be brushed.

We also gave Hercules a toy to play with to encourage his playfulness. He was quick to check it out and has been seen picking it up and throwing it around as well as "kicking it."

I have spent the last week just reinforcing all of the lessons that Hercules has learned since his arrival. He has become a very affectionate horse who thrives on attention and also has a mischevious/prankster side.

Today I decided it was time for something new and brought out the bareback pad. At first I was concerned whether it would fit around him but it did. When he first moved off after being girthed he let out a couple of hops but realized it was to much effort and came back to see what else I had.

Today was a great day. This horse never ceases to amaze me. I was able to walk in and immediately start touching him all over without taking my pole in.

I decided to skip the "rope" today and just work on Hercules with the halter. Within about a half hour I was actually able to put the halter on him and he was learning to give to pressure.

I also figured it was a good time to start working on picking up his feet. I have noticed that his angles seem a little too steep and that he seems uncomfortable on his front hooves so I want to be able to have my farrier be able to correct the angles as he needs to.

Herc is gaining confidence in letting me touch him so I decided to see how he would react to a halter. We made it just a game at first. Just trying to see how many places he could "wear" the halter before we put it on.

Then I used a rope to put a "quick halter" on the big guy. He was not to thrilled with his options being taken away and struggled with the rope so we never did get the halter all the way on. However I wanted to end the evening on a good note so took the rope off and went back to just petting on him and he settled down very quickly.

It is getting unseasonably hot here so have to keep our sessions short, for both of our sakes.