Coming Up the Ranks

I was invited out for a ride on Sunday and decided I would jump at the opportunity. With summer in full swing, it’s hard to find time to get anything but prep work for winter done (I know it’s a sad thought). I decided I would take Maverick again because he’s going so well.

Maverick crossed a flowing creek like it was standing water, watched cows, and climbed up and down hills like it’s nothing. Of course, he’s been on a few rides before so it shouldn’t come to a surprise but he’s not my “go to” horse so I forget that he has been exposed to a lot of different environments.

In the arena, it’s impossible to get Maverick to lope. At home, riding alone, I don’t want to try loping on him. But with riding with friends, we decided to see what he would do. Oh my goodness, what a dream to lope!  I’m used to the high knee action Arabians but Maverick is a fairly comfortable lope as well. We didn’t lope for very far but I wanted to keep going!! Maverick surprises me at every turn.

I’ve decided that I will take Maverick to the next drill team practice just to goof around with afterwards.  I had high hopes of making a Bo the next drill team horse but there’s no way I can work him like a drill team horse and have any hope of him gaining any weight. He’s been on pasture 24x7 for the past couple of weeks and he’s actually dropped weight. I’m going to revert back to graining him his standard grain ratio and see if that helps. He should be able to maintain his weight on pasture only but there’s something wrong.

But on the bright side, I think Maverick will be able to handle drill team with no problems. I’m anxious to try him out now and see how he goes. I want to see if he’ll lope in an outdoor arena or if he’ll get bogged down and think that he’s not supposed to. Either way, I think when it’s time to retire Zeke, I’ll have another horse coming up the ranks to use. I won’t feel so bad about working Maverick since he’s still so young. He’s actually in his prime so best to start using him to his full potential.

Maverick surprises me all the time.